Legacy
by Chromitez
Summary: AU. Percy Jackson is a young man with much to prove. As the only child of a prominent military bloodline and the son of a great war hero, the expectations are high. After the United Systems of Chaos' Victory over the Empire of Order, many thought the universe would enter a long peace. War, however, is never won so easily, and an old foe shall soon rise. HIATUS. Will be rewritten.
1. Chapter 1

**AN,**

 **Hello my fellow people of the fanfiction realms! Jeez, that was cheesy… I must apologize, I've never done this before :/. My name's Chromitez, and for those who missed it in the summary (If I can figure out how to work that…), this will be my first story. I've been an avid fan of fanfiction for years, but I've never really worked up the courage to create my own work. I don't really know how or why it happened, but I've recently had the inspiration to create something I don't believe would be considered mainstream for the Percy Jackson Universe. Yes, there will be Chaos and Order in the Fic, however, please, read on! I give you my word that it will be different than the other Chaos fics you've read. 'Percy gets betrayed, percy gets cheated on, percy meets chaos, percy get uber powers, percy kills all baddies, the end'. I ain't about that life, though I must say I am guilty of enjoying some of the stories like that from time to time :P.**

 **This is a completely different take, and in all honesty not the same at all. My story takes place in an alternate universe, so don't be worried about percy getting mega demigod powers and killing everything. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. In fact, he's not even a demigod here (My most humble of apologies to those that this disappoints, It just didn't feel right to my plot..). I believe that point has been made clear now, so.. Yeah. To any who read this and enjoy what I've written, please, let me know by leaving a review! Furthermore, I am open to any who wish to give advice on where I can correct my mistakes and any problems there might be within each chapter. Now, winter is.. I mean the chapter is coming, and I'll stop taking your time.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or aspects of the PJO franchise. I do however own any original characters that might pop up as well as the fictional alternate universe this is based in.**

Chapter One

Legacy

 _Remember to breathe, and bring glory to the family legacy._ This was all the advice the young man had received from his noble father upon his departure for the academy. The only child of a very prominent military bloodline, Perseus Jackson had much to prove. His father, one of the three heads of the Olympian sector Chaotic fleet, had risen in the ranks of the academy at a more rapid pace than most in it's rather small, on the universal scale, history. After his graduation, he went on to distinguish himself further as a young Hoplite Squadron leader, Poseidon Jackson saw battle for the first time at the age of eighteen. He, along with his squadron of fresh out of the academy graduates had changed the tides of the first full on confrontation of the great galactic war, named after as the Battle of Antios Prime for the planet it took place on, by seizing a heavy gun battery that had been raining hell down on the chaotic landing party drop ships.

The Empire of Order had the upper hand, and it had looked like they would emerge from the battle the victor. Lieutenant Poseidon Jackson and his troupe of twenty brave men and women were the only Hoplite squad with courage enough to brave the hail of gunfire and charge the ridge that the Heavy Guns were positioned on, while having the other ground forces that were still in organized form fire at different intervals each to keep down the enemy defensive guns. Whether the choice was reckless on his part, or a genius move of military strategy was still debated by some of the greatest military minds in the United Systems to the present day, and likely would be for years to come.

Regardless of how reckless or brilliant the choice was, it worked. Poseidon's Squadron seized the heavy batteries, giving the dropships leave to bring in reinforcements to relieve the formerly demoralized and hopeless Soldiers of Chaos. This turn of events was all that was needed to halt and reverse the tide in which the battle had been travelling. The brave soldiers of Chaos, inspired by the actions of the heroic young officer, and backed now by fresh legions of their fellows brothers and sisters, began to gain the upper hand. The forces of Order, unable to comprehend and then counter the newfound strength and numbers of the Chaotic legions, were shattered and forced into a full retreat from the planet.

With Antios Prime, the largest and most strategically placed planet in the Antios System, under United Systems control, they were in a much better position than they could have ever hoped to be this early into the war. After this great victory, it was only a matter of time before the entire Antios system was in the hands of the United Systems. For his bravery in the face of adversity, and the great service he had done to the Chaotic systems as a whole, Poseidon Jackson was awarded the most prestigious thing the Systems could give him, the fabled Medal of Chaos. This medal had been awarded to a mere three beings in the entirety of the United Systems' history, even before the Human race became a part of it, and was presented by Primarch Chaos himself. Furthermore, he was awarded the rank of High Admiral of the Human fleet, also known as the Olympian Sector fleet. While normally, such a thing would be highly unusual, even for one who had just accomplished the feat that the young hoplite lieutenant had, the Systems wished to use him as a beacon of hope, as well as give the citizens of the systems the message that those who serve their people well are rewarded.

The effect that followed was just what the systems' government had hoped for and more. Millions of young men and women flocked to the banners of chaos, and the fleet of the United Systems grew to a size tenfold larger than it had ever seen before. With it's new military strength, the forces of Chaos found that they were able to fight the Empire toe to toe, whereas before their resources were stretched thin at all times, now they found they were on an even ground with the former Galactic superpower. Seeing this, many systems of the empire deserted to the banners of Chaos, finally able to live in a democratic society and not worry too greatly that one day it would all be razed to the ground by the dread Empire of Order. Slowly, but surely, the war turned in the favour of the Systems, and soon, they found themselves on the doorstep of the empire itself.

Ordis, the capital of the empire, was a jewel to behold. It's beauty however tainted by the black heart and lust for power of the tyrant that ruled it's people, Order himself, brother of Chaos, and one of the two prime celestial beings in existence in the universe. The siege of Ordis was long and drawn out. It took the Systems years to finally be able to mount a full on assault of the heavily defended planet. The Human race, lead by High Admirals Poseidon Jackson, Zeus Grace, and Hades Di Angelo, were the first to set foot on the planet. The fighting for Ordis was a long, brutal, and bloody affair. Many thousands of lives were lost on both sides of the fighting, but eventually, the systems managed to begin gaining momentum, and the upper hand. Ordis was sacked, it's wealth put towards repairing the damage caused by the war, and Order himself taken prisoner by Chaos and his United Systems. Victory was finally achieved, and it was believed that with it came the end to any war for many years to come. Looking back on it, Perseus would chuckle at how foolish that thought truly was.

As his Ship approached the landing zone, his palms would begin to shake, and sweat would begin to form on his brow.

' _What if I'm not good enough?'_ The boy asked himself in his mind. ' _What if I can't live up to the expectations?'_

Doubts began to cloud the youth's thoughts, and he began to feel the foul clutch of fear take hold of him. All thoughts were pushed aside however when he received a large and loud slap to the right side of his face. The boy snapped out of his trance and glared into the blue stormy eyes of his long time friend/practical cousin.

"Not cool Thalia, not cool at all." He said coldly as the dark haired girl tried and failed to contain a smile that showed her obvious amusement.

"Well, I could have just left you here you know Percy, let the ship take you back down to earth and all." The girl, Thalia Grace, daughter of High Admiral Zeus Grace, gave him a sly smile while throwing a pack over her shoulder. Her short punk like hair unmoving as the leather strap clapped down onto the black fabric of her shirt.

Percy took a look around and noticed that the other young recruits around him were doing the same as Thalia, that is those that were not already off the ship. He rose from his seat quickly and walked with haste over to the cargo hatch to find his luggage. A red tinge shone on his cheeks as he heard Thalia call out from behind him.

"Take your time Seaweed Brain."

Finally finding his baggage, Percy shouldered it in the same fashion Thalia had done a moment prior. Just as they were about to head out, a whiny intentionally childlike voice came from the exit of the ship.

"Are you guys coming or what? I don't want to go see the assignment officer late alone, the guy looks like he could rip me open with one arm tied behind his back!"

Percy let out an exaggerated sigh and turned to look at his other friend/practical cousin's pouting face with a playful smile.

"You know, we were actually just planning on letting you go on ahead. They say working alone and forcing one to do things by themselves builds character Nico."

A boy of average stature, Nico Di Angelo, son of High Admiral Hades Di Angelo, stood at a little shorter than Percy's current height of 5'8. He wore a dark black t-shirt, and black jeans. Percy and Thalia made many a joke about the boy dressing 'goth' on a fairly regular basis, much to his dismay. His longer black hair hung to the each side of his face and he tapped his foot impatiently.

"Haha, very funny. Now, can we please go? I just want to get this over with.." Nico retorted, impatiently bouncing on his feat, his pack slung over his shoulder in the same fashion as Percy and Thalia's.

Thalia, with a confident grin on her face, gave the boy a small nod of her head.

"Yeah, let's go see what the next four years of our life will be like children."

Percy and Nico both feigned great sadness at being called children, but with a glare from the punk styled black haired girl, now leading them out of the ship, they immediately sobered up, fearing the loss of potential limbs should she get angry.

As the trio exited the ship, Percy began to gain more confidence, and lose some of his previous doubts. A small smile graced his face, and with his two childhood best friends beside him, he thought to himself, ' _maybe this won't be so bad_.'

 **Alright guys, that's all for now. I'll try to have the next chapter up within the week, but I make no promises. I realize this was short, but this was just kind of the introductory/background phase to see if my idea for this fic appealed to enough people to warrant me writing more on it. If it did, please let me know in the reviews!**

 **Thanks you for taking the time to read the humble beginning of my fic. This has been a great fun and I am certain that I will be continuing. Much love to you all, and Gods guide you, for the night is dark and full of terrors,**

 **Chrome**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**

 **Wow. As of this point in time my little prologue/chapter 1 thing has gained close to 80 views, (Granted, 5 of those are probably from me but still!), 9 follows, and 5 favourites. I would just like to take the time to express how thankful I am to all of you for the support. Knowing that there are people out there that look forward to reading something I've created is probably one of the best things I've ever experienced in my life. I realize that some of you might be laughing at this, "Oh that's nothing compared to some authors I read". I understand that, but to me, each time I see that a person has taken the time to read this and especially if they review, it just makes me feel so good inside… It's a great feeling.**

 **While we're on the topic, I would like to give a special thank you to all of you who reviewed, your words of encouragement do wonders towards getting me to write faster.**

 **LittleManY2K - Thank you! Also, not to worry good sir, it was only that short for the prologue chapter. As you'll see here my main chapters will generally be longer :)**

 **Omega Alpha Hydra - Thank you very much!**

 **cL Elusive - Ah, very perceptive ;) I do in fact take some form of my inspiration from Mass Effect in terms of culture and governmental base for the United Systems. Thank you for your words of encouragement!**

 **TheRealCupcake - I don't know why, but I really like your name, it gave me a good chuckle. Thank you for your encouraging words, I sincerely hope I don't disappoint!**

 **I decided that in honour of the upcoming Easter long weekend, I would release this chapter ahead of when I had originally intended to. Now, without further adieu, I give you, Chapter 2, (Hey that rhymed!).**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or aspects of the PJO franchise. I do however own any original characters that might pop up as well as the fictional alternate universe this is based in.**

Chapter 2

The Academy

The beautiful white shining buildings and crowds of thousands of different beings from other species were immediately what caught Percy's eye as he, Thalia, and Nico set foot outside of the Transport ship. He had heard rumours of the capital city of Ethreas being impressive beyond compare before, but this, his imagination could not have created something so grand. The White marble textured streets were full of shops and merchants trying to pedal their goods from all corners of the universe.

There were Alarii selling fresh meat of some kind of species with six legs if the cuts were to judge. Their feathered heads tilting at unnatural angles as they bargained with many a customer. Elcoids sold jewellery of the finest make, able to grab four sets at a time to show off to potential buyers with their four arms. Percy was taken aback when he saw a group of red coloured beings with spike like objects coming out the backs of their heads. It seemed that they were trying to sell some form of produce, but judging by the reactions of those that passed by their stand, the stuff was either not of the best quality or simply had a foul stench to it. One of the beings turned to look at Percy from across the way and made a high pitched rattling sound, sending chills down the young boy's spine.

"You gonna sit there and stare all day or are you gonna move seaweed brain?". Percy turned to see Thalia impatiently tapping her foot, a snickering Nico in the background. "We can go sight seeing later."

Percy's cheeks flushed red a moment as he realized he'd been standing still, dumbstruck by the beauty around him, and silently criticized himself in his head. ' _Stupid, stupid, stupid!'_

He ran forward to catch back up to his friends, and together, they made their way towards the groups of academy recruits gathered around in a large circle. At the center was a large man with a clipboard, and he was calling out names. Percy examined him. The man had a scar travelling horizontally down his left eye, which was covered by an eyepatch. His hair was done in a classical military buzz cut. He was a giant of a man, towering at a height of what Percy believed must be at least 6'7. The boy's eyes grew wide as he took in the muscle mass and definition on the giant that was evident even under his well kept black uniform.

' _Nico wasn't kidding when he said the guy looked like he could rip him open with a hand tied behind his back earlier..'_ He thought to himself, gulping.

As the man continued to go down the list of names, Percy felt a sharp jab be thrust into the right side of his ribcage. He turned with an unamused smile to Thalia, who was smirking.

"Pay attention idiot." She gestured towards the man in the center.

Percy turned once more to look at the man, who seemed to be scanning the crowd for something.

"Last call for Perseus Jackson." He heard the man say.

Stuttering slightly in surprise, Percy managed to get out the words, "Present sir, and it's Percy." The man turned to him and gave him a hard look.

"At the academy, we answer when we are called upon the first time cadet, and your name is whatever the hell I say it is." The man, clearly now identifiable as an officer, spoke in a harsh and rebutting tone.

Percy gave several rapid nods of his head, once more hearing the voices in his mind repeat, ' _Stupid, stupid, stupid.'_ He managed to form the words, "Yes sir, sorry sir."

He heard light snickering to his side and turned once more to look at Thalia, with Nico to her right. The two were trying, and failing, to contain their muffled laughs. The officer rounded on them.

"Does this amuse you cadets?" He gave them a glare more stern than the one he had previously given Percy.

The pair's eyes went wide in a comedic fashion. They both stuttered out "no sirs", but the officer wasn't having it.

"What are your names recruits?"

Thalia spoke for both of them, whether it was by accident or intentional to save Nico from further embarrassment, Percy knew not.

"I am Thalia Grace, he's Nico Di Angelo, sir."

The officer's face morphed into a knowing grin, with a bitter tinge to it.

"Ah, I see now.." He said in a louder voice. "You're the Olympian Admirals' kids.."

Slowly, all three of them nodded their heads. Out of the corner of his eye, Percy could see Nico giving Thalia a thankful look, most likely for speaking for him. The kid had some social anxiety problems at times, of which Thalia and Percy both knew. She gave him a small smile then looked back to the Officer.

"Well this is good. Gives me the chance to get something straight then." The large man said, beginning to pace the center of the circle.

"Regardless of your current station in life, once you enter the academy, you are all just cadets unless promoted. Whether you be the child of a High Admiral of the Olympian Sector, or the only son of a great war hero.." He gave a glare Percy's way at that, "Or even the son or daughter of the poorest asteroid farmer in deep space. All are given equal chance at the academy, so as of now, you had all best take note of that."

A chorus of "Yes sir" and "Understood sir" followed his rant, and the officer nodded to himself.

"My name, is Captain Blain. I will be your acting commander for the duration of your stay with the three hundred and thirty second Olympian cadet battalion. You may call me sir or captain, and only that. You will not try to get chummy with me by using strictly my surname. I am not your friend, I am here to teach you, and only that."

Many cadets gave nods of their heads and the captain continued.

"The academy trains the finest soldiers this side of the universe. If you are here, you are telling me that you wish to be one of the best, is this so?" He'd look around at the few uncertain head shakes that came from some of the cadets. "Well, then let me tell you, you all have a very long road ahead of you."

The captain motioned with his hand, giving the cadets the signal to follow him. As they walked, he continued talking.

"The best soldiers are those that dedicate themselves to their cause. The best soldiers are those that know the difference between rational decisions in the field of fire, and irrational ones. Throughout your stay at this academy, you will be put through hundreds of trials to test you in these things, as well as many others. Most of you will have different skill sets, and this is more than alright." The group rounded a corner, and Percy could see another Transport ship, this time an inner planetary class one, waiting far ahead of them.

"Many of you will drop out, the choice is a free one to you at any time. Not everybody is cut out for our line of work. Those that stay however, must be prepared to meet their trials head on, and work harder than they've ever had to before in their lives. You are all young fourteen year olds, and as such, you have a long educational road ahead of you. As of this point, you are all viewed with the equal potential to become Hoplites of the United Forces of Chaos, maybe even something greater than that." The group had finally arrived at the new transport ship and had begun to file into its open doors.

Percy looked around in an attempt to locate Thalia and Nico, but it seemed as though he had lost them in the march. Desperately, he searched for an open seat, only to find the last one available beside a girl with curly blond hair and grey eyes, who seemed to be distracted reading a holopad she must have brought with her. Percy made his way over and sat down beside her, as close to the isle as he could squeeze without falling off, as he did not want to cause the girl any discomfort.

The girl raised her eyes from her holopad to look at him, and Percy had to admit that she was quite beautiful. She looked him up and down with confusion, then looked around the rest of the transport. Realization seemed to dawn on her if the expression on her face was anything to judge by, and she settled back down into the seat, once more reading her holopad.

"Hey there.." Percy attempted awkwardly, trying to make some conversation.

The girl looked back up and a flash of annoyance went across her features. "I'm trying to read." She looked back down at her holopad.

Percy flushed a bright red and looked away, but an oddly confident feeling came over him, and he refused to be spurred.

"What's the thing you're reading about?" He asked innocently enough, trying to peer over her shoulder and catch a glance of the words.

The girl gave a sigh and closed it, seemingly realizing she would not end up being able to finish reading after all.

"It was just an article of the construction project the Felucian Principality is having done in the Jurvak system, my mother is the lead architect on it. I just wanted to see how it's coming along." Percy's eyebrows raised a small way up his forehead.

"The Felucians commissioned an Olympian engineering team?" Percy was baffled by the statement, as it was a well known fact that the Felucian's had no love for the human race.

The girl chuckled a little. "Everybody in the galaxy commissions my mother, she's fairly well known throughout the United Systems.."

Percy racked his brain for the most well known architects of human origin he could think of. It took him some time, but eventually he recalled one such woman. The great Athena Chase, known throughout the universe as one of if not the greatest architectural mind of all time. On top of that, she was a veteran of the great war, and had served beside Percy's father for a time. Upon remembering this fact however, Percy became a little on edge.

The boy recalled how his father had spoken of Athena with disdain clearly evident in his voice. He recalled how while he begrudgingly admitted she was a highly talented architect, but also that he had raved on and on about how the woman had been one of the most vain battle strategists he had ever had to work with. She was good, not as good as she lead many to believe, but good all the same. Poseidon had given her that, but she also threw lives away as though they were nothing more than a few pawns that she could afford to lose in the grand scheme of things. Poseidon believed that all the lives of the men under his command were to be valued. Athena believed that any sacrifices she needed to make in terms of the lives of her crew that would go towards helping her achieve victory in what she called a 'strategic manner' were worth making.

Percy looked up to see the blonde staring at him with a raised brow. He criticized himself in his head for drifting too deeply into thought. He looked away from the girl for a moment and responded.

"Ah, yes, I know who it is now.."

The girl tilted her head slightly, an amused smirk now gracing her face. "I'm Annabeth, Annabeth Chase." She held out her hand.

Slowly, Percy reached out and shook the hand offered. "Perseus Jackson, but my friends call me Percy."

He watched the sudden conflicting emotions seem to go off in the girl's head like fireworks. On one hand, she seemed almost awed, on the other however.. It seemed Athena had not had much good to say about his father either.

Once composed, her resultant reaction was one of nonchalance. She whistled a small high pitched sound. "That name sure carries a lot of weight."

Percy nodded in agreement, bitterly. "Too much if you ask me, gives me some damn near impossible standards to live up to."

The girl, sorry, Percy corrected himself mentally, Annabeth, looked him over once more. She seemed to be considering something in her head. Finally, after about a thirty seconds of suspense, she spoke.

"You know what I think? I think you'll surpass those expectations. I don't really know how to explain it, I just feel like you'll go on to do great things in the future. Forgive My forwardness. I mean come on, it can't be that hard right? All you have to do is start another great war, then do something heroic in it! Easy as can be."

Unintentionally, a laugh came from Percy's traitorous mouth. "Yeah ok Wise Girl."

The blonde wrinkled her nose at that. "What kind of name is that? Come on now, you could think of much better no? Wise girl.." She muttered the last bit to herself, sticking out her tongue in a feint of disgust, as if the name itself felt fowl coming from her lips."It's not that wisdom is bad, it's great so I don't see how that would be an insult but, Wise Girl… Really?"

Percy chuckled at the girl's antics,but was then was forced to catch himself on the seat as the transport came to a lurching halt. Rising to his feet, Percy found himself once more heading out of a transport, only this time, the sight that awaited him was much different than previously.

"Well this is.. Wow." He heard the voice of Annabeth say behind him.

Percy himself couldn't help but agree. While the academy did not have the beauty of the capital city, which if he was correct resided to the South of this place, it was truly something to marvel in it's own way. Large grey walls lined the perimeter, but Percy could see a number of people coming and going from the numerous entrances and exits. On every side Percy could see except the North, which was covered by a large forest, there was an open field of grass. In many of these fields, Percy could see Cadets, like himself, training in a variety of different ways. In one field, there seemed to be a large sparring match going on between two Cadet Squadrons being supervised by a stern looking bald officer. In another, a line of the older looking cadets were firing training rifles at targets that seemed to be about 50 meters away. To take in all the things going on around him left Percy guffawing.

A troupe of older kids dressed in black uniform training pants with grey jogging t-shirts, Percy thought they must be in their sixteens or seventeens, jogged by the group in a completely orderly fashion. Upon inspecting them, Percy noticed that each of the people, whom he assumed were cadets of the older ages, except for three had two silver with gold outline trim bars of rank placed horizontally on their sleeves, directly below the badge of the United Systems of Chaos **(See story picture)**. Two of the three he had centered out as different had a woven silver blade going down their ranks vertically, to any onlooker it would seem as though the sword simply overlapped them. The Final member of the trio stood out the most though. While she did not have the silver blade running down her bars, she also did not have just the bars alone. Two silver swords with gold woven handles criss-crossed in front of the bars, and atop it all, there was a golden star floating directly below the badge of Chaos.

Percy had to admit, the design was quite beautiful.

He looked around him to see that the majority of his fellow recruits were staring after the troupe that had just passed in awe. ' _That's what my face probably looked like a second or two ago'._ He cringed looking at the gaping mouth of a curly brown haired boy who seemed most likely to be of Latino descent. The kid noticed him staring and instead of getting angered or confused, made a face so strange that Percy stumbled back in shock. The boy, clearly pleased with himself, begin laughing so hard he had to hold his sides. Percy was about to talk to him, when Captain Blain began speaking.

"You will be escorted to your rooms now by Hoplite Jensen, I expect you all to act in a way that would be expected of an academy attendee, for as soon as you walk through that gate, that's exactly what you'll be."

This statement was followed by a number of "Understood sirs". As the cadets all began to follow Jensen, Percy turned around to find the curly haired boy once more, only to bump right into the face of Nico.

"Owwww!" The Black haired boy complained as he put a hand up to cover his now slightly bleeding nose.

Percy couldn't help but laugh at his friend's pain, and was quickly joined by Thalia, who had come up from behind Nico.

"Come on you little goth, I know for a fact that a bloody nose won't stop you from making sure you get a well positioned bed. If we want to ensure that we're all near each other we need to be in the front of this herd!" She made a shooing motion to Nico, which caused Percy to laugh even harder now in the background.

Nico grumbled under his breath something incoherent, luckily enough as Percy was sure that the things he was saying were beyond kind. Standing up straight and shrugging it off, Nico nodded for them to continue. The trio slowly worked their way to the front of the Cadets, who marched in a massive uncoordinated blob, making the task much easier.

They approached what Percy assumed must have been the main gate due to it's size slowly. Hoplite Jensen ordered them to a stand still, and walked forward to talk to one of the Guards at the entrance. A minute later, he waved over the cadets and they were through. As the group came out from the entrance, their admiration for the beauty of the place increased. A large walkway, flanked on both sides by bushes of some kind of flora lead towards a massive main building, breaking off in two separate directions in the middle. With his eyes following the path that lead right, Percy could see more smaller looking buildings than he could count.

' _Those must be the barracks'_ He assumed, only to be proven right as Jensen signalled for the cadets to turn that way.

Percy looked back over his shoulder to try and see where the left path lead, but the group had moved too far away by this time. He shrugged to himself.

' _An adventure for another day.'_ His mind reasoned to him.

The group arrived at a big black building with a large sign reading ' _Gamma V_ '. The cadets slowly made their way into the structure at the behest of Hoplite Jensen and fanned out, giving the Hoplite room to speak.

"Well cadets, welcome to Barrack Gamma five. This will be your home for the next five years." Instantly Percy liked the man. He was young, with the beginnings of some light brown stubble starting to form on his cheeks and chin, and had an honesty smile to go with his kind voice. "You will be assigned a room number on one of the three floors inside this building. Do not ask to choose your roommates, and neither you or I have any say in that department, sorry kids."

This proclamation was followed by a loud series of groans, clearly giving the general feeling almost all the cadets in the room had on the matter. Jensen took it in kind however, and gave a faint nodding of his head if Percy was not mistaken, almost like he agreed with them and felt their 'pain'.

"Alright , alright, settle down now!" Jensen raised his voice to quiet the room. "When I call your name, come to the front, and prepare to receive your room number and key!"

One by one, cadets were called to the front. Thalia was the first of his small circle of friends to be named, she was given a room on the second floor, and she ended up getting the blonde from the transport ship, Annabeth, as her room partner. Nico was called as well, and as the names after him went by, Percy found himself praying that he would hear the same room as his only other male friend at the academy. Whether by a miracle, or some stroke of dumb luck, that was just what the son of Poseidon got.

"Percy Jackson." He heard Jensen call. "Floor one, lodging quarters A2."

Percy walked down the hall with a huge grin on his face. He stopped upon seeing the sign for his room, and entered. He saw Nico lounging on his back in the bed to the right side of the room. He was staring up at the ceiling and with headphones in and seemed to be completely unaware of the world around him. Percy, being the loving friend that he was, threw his pack at Nico's almost sleeping form. The black haired boy rose up from the bed angry, but upon seeing Percy's smirking face, gave a wide grin himself and began to laugh.

"This, this will be fun my good sir." He said.

Percy couldn't help but agree.

 **Ok, that's the second chapter! For those of you that wanted it longer, (I gotchu LittleManY2K ;)), it has been done. The length of my original chap/prologue thingy has been doubled, and we are sitting at just under 4k words for this chapter! (Excluding author's notes). Hold your applause, please, not all at once, this is definitely not sarcasm, ha... In all seriousness though, once again if you like the story please let me know with a review! I have gained a new appreciation for the work authors put into these kinda low action chapters, that is for sure. I know there wasn't much going on here, but it was really a chap created just to lay down some nice foundations.**

 **The next chapter should be out sometime within the next 7 days or so. If it's not, well, know that I'll be trying. I hoped you enjoyed my newest chapter! Much love to you all, and Gods guide you on your travels, for the night is dark and full of terrors.**

 **Chrome.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**

 **Hello once again all you beautiful people. Just want to address something really quickly before I get into the chapter. For those of you that are growing tired or bored because there's not much going on, know that I feel you. After this chapter we're going to be doing a nice time skip ahead a few months to when the cadets are better trained and can handle themselves in a more.. Competitive manner. That's the only hint I will give, but the next chapter will be where things start to get more enjoyable (For those of you that may not like what we've got so far). So, be patient, please, and stick with it.**

 **On another note, this story was recently added to Wacko12's community for Chaos stories. Huge thank you goes out to the guy for hooking me up with that, it really helps to get my story out there!**

 **Now, reviews.**

 **LittleManY2K - Not a problem sir! I'm thinking this will be the general length for the majority of my chapters this point on. As for your question, Chaos and Order play a part as primordial beings, and there may or may not be some titans (Though they wouldn't have powers) In the first enemy group I'm planning out ;).**

 **Alpha Omega Hydra - Thank you sir, and I agree completely! As for your question, well, I can't answer that yet, but I have two possible paths for Annabeth to go down in this fiction. The most likely pairing you will see in this story later on will either possibly be that, or Percy and Zoe, though the second is probably more likely as I like the original path I had set for Annabeth :).**

 **Guest number 1 - Thank you 3**

 **TheRealCupcake - Thank you for the encouragement friend, I wasn't sure if the second chapter might turn off some of the audience, your words help greatly :).**

 **Guest number 2 - Well I'm glad to hear it! You will see the rest of the seven later on in the story without a doubt, maybe even next chapter :).**

 **WILDFIREXIXX - Thank you! My updates will generally be once a week, as I have a busy schedule and it is hard to find the time to sit down and write. If this displeases you I am sorry, but it's better than a lot of authors I read from on here… As for the length, I feel that 4k per chapter is a good mark to try to shoot for each time, but there might be a few chaps here and there that are longer.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or aspects of the PJO franchise. I do however own any original characters that might pop up as well as the fictional alternate universe this is based in.**

Chapter 3

The Arena

The cadets were given the rest of their arrival day as a formal recreation day. As they had arrived in the later half of the day cycle on Ethreas, it was considered a waste of time to attempt starting their training right away. Upon being made aware of this, Percy and Nico had immediately gone to sleep. Space travel between planets forced the body to adjust to different day cycles, and it could be very tiring for many species. Humans got it the worst however, being the newest of the space dwelling nations.

The room that Percy and Nico shared was quite cosy. There was a bed for each of them to each side of the door when one walked in, and they both even had their own workspace. This included a nice desk and drawer, which contained many different sets of uniform clothing. Percy had however been the most delighted to see that the academy had provided both the boys with their own holopad. The thing came with strict instructions that it was for school usage only, but Percy had never been one to follow rules, and he knew he'd have a lot of fun with it further down the road.

When Percy had to wake up at six in the morning the following day, one could describe him as less than a 'happy camper'. He may have gone to bed early, but that didn't mean he enjoyed waking up until the time was in at least the double digits. When he had said as much to Captain Blain at wakeup call, he had received quite the earful, to say the least. Afterwards, the man had turned abruptly and marched down the hall yelling at the other poor souls of floor one to get up. Hoplite Jensen had given Percy a wide grin before heading off after the captain.

After a large amount of grumbling and unkind words, Percy had managed to rise from his bed and get dressed in one of the academy training uniforms provided. It was almost exactly similar to that of the older cadet troupe he had seen upon his arrival, however it had no bars on the sleeve, only the badge of Chaos. Percy decided to looked himself over in the mirror before heading out.

His sea green eyes stared back at him as he fixed his unruly jet black hair. He had been described as handsome by many girls before, but he had always brushed those comments aside or laughed them off. His mother had once told him when he was younger that his complexion was almost Mediterranean. Percy of course had no idea at the age of seven what she was talking about so he had simply smiled widely and laughed.

His mother, oh how he missed her. Perseus Jackson was a strong kid, and prided himself on not having to lean on others for help more than was overtly necessary. When it came to his mother however, he would do anything for her, and he knew she would do the same for him. Whenever his father was off on tour in Percy's childhood, which was often, his mother was left alone for months at a time to take care of him on their larger colonial home on the relatively rural planet of Flouris Delta.

Originally from the Olympian sector homeworld Earth itself, Sally Jackson had not grown up in the best conditions. Her father and mother had both been killed in an accident when she was but five years old, and she had spent the rest of the time after switching from foster home to foster home. Even with her troubled childhood however, the woman had managed to become quite successful and earned a doctor's degree upon graduating from some preppy university in a place called New York. She met Poseidon while he was on leave and had come to visit one of his under ranking officers in the care of her medical ward during the great war. Whatever happened after that, Percy was quite content not to know.

Pushing thoughts of his beloved mother from his head, and making a mental note to contact her the moment he was given the ability to do so, Percy walked into the hallway and down towards the building's lounging area, Nico close behind him. Most of the cadets were already lined up in front of the building when the two reached the lounge, so they made their way out the door and joined them. After about two minutes had gone by, all the members of the three hundred thirty second were in an orderly line awaiting the command of Captain Blain, who had just walked out the door to join them behind the last cadet, Hoplite Jensen following at his back. The duo made their way to the front of the line formed, and ordered them into ranks, twenty five bodies across, four deep. Once the shuffling around was complete, Hoplite Jensen began a roll call, which in turn was followed by Captain Blain's morning speech.

"Alright, listen up recruits. Today, we begin basic hand to hand to hand combat, but before we do, you will each be assigned to a squadron. You will be split into four groups, each group containing twenty five cadets. As you may have already noticed, unlike the older cadets, you have no bars of service and no officers of your own. The first bar will be given to you all soon, once you have proven yourselves to be capable, the academy will deem you worthy of receiving it. At the end of the year, each squadron will vote on its commander and his or her two under ranking officers. The votes will not be the deciding factors in all cases, but for the most part we will let your choices be the judge. This means recruits, that through this entire year, you will be competing for the commanding role." The captain's last words were met with a large amount of murmuring throughout the hundred cadets of the three hundred thirty second. They grew quiet as the Captain raised his hand, signalling for silence.

"Alright, I could have lists made or randomly generated, but from the way I see things, you're already positioned yourselves in rows of twenty five, and I really don't feel the need to go through the hassle of making new groups, so, Hoplite Jensen here will get your names, and the people in the row with you right now will be the people that serve with you in your squadron for the next four years. You may thank me for this choice, or you may hate me, I care not."

Percy had a big grin on his face as he looked to his left side from his spot in the front row, seeing Nico looking back at him with a smile equally as large threatening to split his face in two.

' _Well, this has been rather lucky'._ The boy thought to himself.

After Jensen had finished taking down names, the battalion as a whole was ordered to follow Captain Blain to the arena. They walked back up the path they had come down yesterday, and reached the three way junction, this time going down the left side. The arena could be seen in the distance, and it was truly something to marvel from the outside. It had the look of one of the Roman coliseums of old, except with the greyish slate-like material it was made from, it had a more modern look to it. The cadets entered the building, and marvelled at the equipment all around the room.

A large matted area resided in the far right corner, Percy assumed that was where they would train in their hand to hand combat. To the direct left, a rack that seemed to hold every form of weapon Percy could think of, both for up close and at a distance. To the right, hundreds of weights could be seen, as well as many machines, pieces of equipment, and weight lifting contraptions one could use to build up muscles. Finally, to the far left hand corner, Percy saw a shooting range, with some combat dummies for melee practice to it's side. The building was massive, and Percy as well as the rest of the cadets were truly amazed.

Just as Percy has suspected, the battalion made their way over to the far right hand side containing the mats. Captain Blain paired them up in twos, and Percy found himself standing across from the curly haired Latino boy from the previous day.

"Well hey there hops!" The boy said to him with a big mischievous smile.

Percy was taken aback, and clearly it must have shown on his face, because the boy explained the odd name before any further confusion could be dished out.

"I give everybody a nickname, yours comes from you almost jumping out of your skin yesterday when I scared ya!" The kid chuckled. Percy got slightly defensive at this.

"Oh come on! It was.. I.. I hardly even reacted!"

The boy tilted his head to the side a bit. And gave Percy an ' _Are you serious?',_ look. Embarrassedly, Percy looked at his shoes and sighed. "Alright, fine, you're right." The boy's mischievous smile returned, and he nodded his head.

"Ah, a sense of honesty, that's good! I think we will get along just fine friend." He held out his hand. "My name's Leo, Leo Valdez. You ever need anything fixed up, or any kind of contraption created, you come to me buddy."

Percy took the outstretched hand hesitantly. The boy in front of him was strange, but for some odd reason, Percy liked him, and he felt trustworthy. He heard Captain Blain speaking in the background of his thought and wisely tuned into his voice. He most certainly did not want a repeat of the last time he had been caught drifting by that man.

"With your partner, each of you will show Hoplite Jensen and I what you can do as of this starting point in time. Begin when ready."

Percy entered a fighter's stance right away. Growing up with the dad he had, he had been groomed to join the forces as soon as he was able. He knew many different forms of fighting, ranging all the way from the ancient Greek form of martial arts known as pankration to modern day boxing, and had had a multitude of teachers throughout his small amount of years. He knew he was no master however, and if this kid had somehow had any training of his own, he would be in for a good fight.

Judging by the boy's stance however, and the unsure look on his face, Percy doubted somehow that he knew what he was doing. He breathed a short sigh of relief, thinking this fight would make him look good, but also made a mental note not to end it too quickly.

 _He seems like a good guy, best not to embarrass him and make a potential enemy when he could be a friend._ Percy thought.

Percy give Leo a nod, and when he received one back, the combat began. Immediately, Leo charged face first at Percy, leaping forth to tackle him. Percy was so caught off guard by this action, that he was sent back flying with Leo from the impact. Groaning slightly, Percy rose to his feet. He began to circle Leo, who was only just beginning to rise himself. He had made a mistake in underestimating the boy, for the most untrained were generally the most unpredictable. When the curly haired boy got to his feet, he again wasted no time in attacking, and swung a sloppy but strong right hook towards Percy's face. This time, Percy was ready, and used his left arm to hit Leo's arm, knocking his punch aside and leaving his body exposed. Percy wasted no time, and quickly turned to deliver three quick jabs at the Latino boy's ribs. His opponent stumbled back, gasping for air.

For honour's sake, Percy let him have a brief relapse phase to breath, before continuing his assault. He feinted as though he were going for a strong punch to the boy's face, so when Leo went to cover it with both his hands, he was greatly caught off guard by Percy leaping at and grappling his legs. Percy swung his lower body in an arc right, swiping Leo's legs out from under him and bringing him crashing to the ground. Once there, Percy swivelled his torso upwards, and flung one leg around Leo's neck. He then flipped his body over, and began to lightly choke the boy with said leg. In a moment's time, the small latino tapped out.

Looking around upon his rise, Percy could see that most of the other fighting had come to an end, and many had been actively watching his. Turning, Percy offered a hand to his opponent, who still laid on the mat, just regaining his breath. The curly haired boy took it gratefully, and gave Percy a small smile.

"Well, I'll be damned if I could ever beat somebody who fights like that." He said as he was pulled up to Percy's side.

"You caught me off guard at the start there friend, I was very impressed with that. The mistake that cost you the fight was blindly charging in a second time." Percy gave the boy a small smile.

Leo took it in kind, and nodded his head, taking in the advice and making a mental note not to slip up like he had again in the future.

The duo both turned their heads as a slow clapping came from across from them. To their surprise, it was Captain Blain himself, and he was looking at them.

"Well fought recruits. It's obvious this isn't your first rodeo Jackson, it's good to know that at least a few of you in here know a little of what you're doing beforehand. Valdez, I like the effort, better than most of this miserable lot!"

Percy beamed at the praise, while Leo gave a small smile.

"Thank you sir." They responded simultaneously.

The man gave them a curt nod and looked away to watch some of the remaining fights. Out of the corner of his eye, Percy could see Hoplite Jensen looking at him with something that looked almost like pride shining in his eyes. Percy turned and waved to the man, who chuckled and nodded back to him.

"Damn hops, the staff loves you already!" Leo said in a whiny voice behind him, and Percy let out a laugh.

"Maybe if you win next time they'll feel the same way about you curly."

Percy and Leo turned, and Percy smiled at the approaching forms of Thalia and Nico. The former had been the one the voice belonged to.

"She's kidding of course, the fight was stacked against you friend. We've all had training from a young age, sorry for your luck." This statement came from Nico, who gave the short Latino a sympathetic look. Valdez gave a loud snort.

"The great Leo of clan Valdez never has the odds stacked against him sir, bite thy tongue heathen swine!"

The brief span of awkward silence that followed that statement was broken by a roar of laughter coming from Thalia.

"Look at his face!" She exclaimed.

Percy did as she asked, and his mouth slowly split into a grin when he saw the expression painted on Nico's face. Multiple emotions seemed to be displayed there, but the most prominent two were without a doubt shock and confusion. Leo Chuckled too and began to speak once more.

"It was a joke Long hair, no harm intended." He stuck out his tongue.

After originally being caught off guard by the smaller boy's odd mannerisms, Nico began to chuckle a little himself.

"You're a strange one kid."

Leo beamed as though it were one of the greatest praises he could have received.

"And don't you forget it pal!"

The last of the fights came to a close and the captain called the recruits over to him. He raised a hand to his brow as if saying to himself, _This is going to be a lot of work._

"Alright, if you want me to be brutally honest, the vast majority of you need a hell of a lot of training before you'll be able hold your own in a fight. There are some of you who i will grudgingly admit know how to handle themselves to an extent, but by no means should any of those that I'm speaking of think themselves above the rest because of this. Soon enough, the rest will be on equal footing as you, then the fights will be much more even. Cadets, for the rest of the day you will sit here and work on your weight training under the guidance of the capable Hoplite Jensen. I will be out supervising some of the other Olympian battalions."

The captain gave a curt nod to his charges, and quickly took his leave. Percy did not mind his current situation one bit. While he didn't exactly dislike the captain, he preferred Hoplite Jensen, who seemed to be much kinder a man. Because of this, Percy had assumed that he would be easier on them for the rest of their training regime for the day. He had never been more wrong in his life.

The Hoplite may have been a kind man, but he was a hard trainer. He pushed each and every cadet to their absolute breaking point with the insane amounts he wanted them to lift. Percy watched as one the scrawnier looking kids of his group tried and failed to a deadlift a forty pound bar with two hundred pounds worth of of weights on it, the thought that the Hoplite may actually be trying to kill he and his fellow cadets crossed mind.

By the end of the day's training, every single cadet of the three hundred thirty second could hardly move their bodies. They stumbled out of the arena in a sloppy column, marching with the last of their energy back towards their barrack building.

"Hold it!" The cadets heard Jensen yell out behind them. As one they turned to face the man.

"Where are you going?" He had an amused look on his face.

A hush fell over the group, and the amount of tension in the air could have melted an ice mountain from the frozen system of Glacius. Pure horror struck Percy's body at the thought that Jensen might actually want the cadets to go back and continue, but this was pushed aside when one of the bolder cadets spoke up.

"Back to the dorms.. Sir?" The statement was supposed to be a fact, but it really ended up being a question.

The hoplite chuckled. "Well, if you're not in the mood for food then I suppose you could continue on said route."

Every set of eyes in the battalion that were not already on the him turned to the hoplite at those words, and the man couldn't help but continue to chuckle at the amusing looks on the faces of the cadets.

"Come with me, I'll take you to the mess hall for the Olympian cadets."

Eagerly, the herd of fourteen year olds followed the hoplite like a flock of vultures. Percy's stomach rumbled loudly, causing some around him to let out small giggles. Jensen lead the group down the main path, and this time, went straight on towards the huge building Percy had seen upon his arrival. They entered, and turned right, where a flight of stairs awaited them. At the bottom of the stairs was a long corridor, with the occasional door to one of the many species dependent mess halls appearing on the left hand side. The group walked down the corridor, and came to a stop outside a door with the sign 'Mess Hall 12' plated above it.

Upon arriving at the cafeteria, and waiting for the hoplite to set them free with a wave of his hand, the mob of starving children rushed the food stands in a chaotic fashion. One by one they grabbed the remaining morsels of food and took them off to eat at separate tables. Percy, with a wide grin on his face and two Solian cow meat burgers on his plate, found a table with Thalia, Nico, and Annabeth, and sat down. The four ate in silence for a while, soaking in the replenishing energy that the foods bestowed onto them. The peaceful silence was interrupted when Leo, king of the shit disturbers himself, walked over with a larger, both in height and muscle mass, dark skinned boy, and a smaller pale skinned girl with long brown hair.

"Hello there my lovely new friends! I would like to introduce you to my cousin and his girlfriend, Charles Beckendorf and Silena Beauregard, respectively." Leo said with a cheeky grin.

Promptly after his entry speech, he was hit hard in the shoulder by the girl, and then clapped over the back of the head by Charles.

"We are not dating!" The pair both practically yelled in sync.

Percy and his friends began to laugh at the misfortune of the small latino boy, and the two that had come with him joined in.

"I hate you all." Leo huffed indignantly, and promptly sat down to eat his food.

The two he had brought with him followed suit. Over the period of their dinner break, which consisted of only thirty minutes, Percy's group formed a tight bond with Leo's cousin and his 'friend'. All of them shared the same squadron, known as Alpha squadron, except Thalia and Annabeth, who were with Beta. At the end of their meals, all the children sat back in their seats and relaxed.

"That chef Lafleur guy sure knows how to cook." Sighed Leo dreamily.

Percy, as well as the rest of the people around the table nodded their heads in agreement. The chef, known by most of the cadets as 'The Hook' for his robotic left arm with a detachable hook at its end, most certainly knew his foods.

One by one, cadets started to pile out of the mess hall. Percy's group had to wait a good five minutes for all the cadets in front of them to finally make it past the exit. There were much more human cadets than Percy had imagined originally there would be, but then again, after the large role the human race played in the great war, they had begun to gain much more influence in the Universe.

The three hundred thirty second met up outside of the Human mess hall. Their appetites had been satiated, however now that the food had gone, they began to remember their initial tiredness. As one, they returned to the Gamma five barracks, then split heading towards their lodging quarters. Percy stayed behind and said a quick goodnight to Thalia and Annabeth, then, with Nico at his side, proceeded to enter the room.

Once the two had cleaned up, and prepared themselves to sleep, they each laid down in their respective beds.

"You know Perce." Nico's voice came from the right side bed. "This training may be horrible, and Blain may be scary as all hell, and we may not get much sleep-"

"Are there going to be any positives on this list?" Percy cut him off, chuckling lightly. The long haired boy across the room smiled.

"Well if you had let me finish." Nico stuck out his tongue in a child like manner, to which Percy rolled his eyes.

"This may be hard, but just think, once this is all over, we could be hoplites, maybe even better! If fate is kind, I'll be a Myrmidon one day.." The boy sighed dreamily.

"You don't have half the brain power to become a Myrmidon you idiot!" Percy Laughed.

Nico feigned pain. "You never know. Either way, once this is done, I can see us doing great things! Think of it, Nico Di Angelo and friends, Saviours of the universe!" The boy held his hands out and spread them as if to create headlines in the air.

"Nico Di Angelo and friends eh?" Percy scoffed.

"Well of course, because I will be the fearless leader!" The boy beamed.

"Sure Nico, whatever you say."

The two settled into a comfortable silence after that, and eventually dozed off. Their future would be hard, of that their was no doubt. They could take solace in the fact however, that those around them had their backs, and sometimes, that was the only thing that mattered. The universe would have need of Percy Jackson and his friends in the future, and he would need all the help he could get to overcome its trials.

 **Right then, that'll do it for this chapter. Thank you once again to those of you following, favoriting, reviewing, or even just reading! I'm debating on whether to take on another book, (Which would either be a PJO/GoT crossover or a PJO fic based in ancient Greece) at the same time as this one, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep consistent updates in two stories at the same time… We'll see I guess.**

 **Final thing I want to do is ask what you guys would like to see as the pairing. Now, I will say that it might not end up being the pairing you vote, but I want to know what my readers are thinking and will most certainly take it into consideration.**

 **Until next time, much love and Gods guide you, for the night is dark and full of terrors,**

 **Chrome.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N**

 **How's it going guys. So, we recently hit 450 views, only 350 or so visitors so some of you really like flipping back to this on the web or something, but yeah! I wanna say that this is a good thing, but I kinda feel like it's not, as out of the maybe 160 or so people that have read this, only 19 are following, and my reviews are the same people for the most part.. (LittleMan, Alpha Omega, and Cupcake, love you guys!). As this is my first story, I really don't know if this is a good thing or not yet, but I guess somebody will tell me at some point (plz).**

 **Anyway, this is going to be a little bit (KEYWORD LITTLE) longer than my other chapters so far. I could've shortened it to remain consistent but where's the fun in that eh? I'm thinking that my general update day will be every friday from now on people. Also, nobody aside from Alpha has let me know what they are feeling pairing wise, so if any of you have a preference please let me know and I will take it into consideration.**

 **To all you beautiful reviewers, there were no questions this time so I'm just going to say thank you to you guys as a group! You all rock, as do all those people who are following and/or have favourited!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or aspects of the PJO franchise. I do however own any original characters that might pop up as well as the fictional alternate universe this is based in.**

Chapter 4

The First Games

The eight months that followed the cadets first day of training were no different than it. Day after day the three hundred and thirty second were put through gruelling training, both physically in the arena, and mentally in the classrooms, their bodies were spent after every initial regime. Slowly however, but surely, they began to build up their strength. The workouts and training became a little easier, and their minds became more adapt to battle and strategy.

At the end of these months, their skills had grown sharper, and all of them that could not before were now able to handle themselves in a fight. Percy, Thalia, and Nico, were good, but over time they had learned that there were many others in the battalion who were just as skilled, if not better.

Luke Castellan was an incredibly skilled natural swordsman like Percy, and a hell of a shot to boot. Zoe Nightshade was a master with the Viro-Bow, and was as agile as a wood nymph of the Seelie System. Clarisse La Rue was incredibly strong, and a skilled warrior with both the assault rifle and her Plasma spear she called Maimer, though her hot temper had caused many a dispute with other cadets in the past and would have been easily exploitable in a fight. The list went on, as there were many great warriors it seemed in the three hundred thirty second.

When the first morning of the ninth month came around, Percy and Nico routinely dressed in their workout uniform attire and made their ways down to the main lounge. They exited a door with a few of their other squadron members who had got there at the same time, Conner and Travis Stoll, and Katie Gardner. The identical twins always wore mischievous smiles as though they had some grand scheme planned, both stood at a taller height with their blue eyes darting back and forth and brown hair swaying. Katie Gardner was much different. The girl wore a kind smile most of the times Percy had seen her, and there was a sincere warmth in her green eyed gaze that just made Percy know he could trust her. She had brown, almost rosy coloured hair, and stood at a modest height.

The Alpha squadron members greeted each other as they made their way towards the growing group of cadets forming ranks. They lined up side by side in the front row and were soon joined by Thalia and Annabeth. Each cadet had over the months gained their first badge of rank on their sleeve by this time in some way or another through training, and each wore it like a medal of honour.

When all were gathered, Captain Blain began to speak, however this time instead of explaining the importance of training like he had every other morning for the past few months, he spoke of something that greatly enticed the cadets.

"Right then, listen up troops! Today, we will be doing something a bit different."

Murmuring broke out among the crowd, but it was immediately silenced by Blain's raised hand.

"For the past eight months you have been put through rigorous training, and you will continue to be for the rest of your stay at this school, however now, you get to experience the more… Competitive part of your stay with this academy. Today, cadets, you will begin your experience in the games."

The cadets were unsure of how to react to this, but many assumed it was a good thing as it meant their harsh training would not occur today, and so they began to smile and clap. The captain let them go on for a few seconds, then silenced the crowd once more.

"Now, after this year, you will compete as one against other battalions. However, due to your current inexperience in the field, for the final four months of this term you will be competing against your fellow squad members. Once the year is over, your statistics will be analyzed and along with the leaders and minor officers of your individual squadrons, a Centurion will be chosen to lead this battalion. Now, before you get all worked up and jumpy again, fall in and follow Jensen and I to the northern forest, double time recruits!"

In his black uniform cargo pants, and dark grey uniform workout shirt, Percy jogged in sync with the rest of the cadets. They made their way down the path towards the arena, but instead of going into it as they always had, Captain Blain lead them around, and down a back trail, which lead to the Northern gate. The four Hoplites manning it immediately stopped whatever it was that they were doing to give a quick salute to the captain, then ran to get the giant shining metal gate open.

As the group of cadets continued their jog through the gates, they took in their surroundings. The woods were unknown territory for them, and the lush trees to all sides gave off a dark an almost eerie vibe. It was a lush wooded area, and all the trees were bright with green leaves, bushes littered the underbrush and birds could be heard distantly chirping in the wind.

Percy squinted his eyes as the group went deeper and deeper into the forest, and was able to make out a large fortress like structure, surrounded by many different bunkers. Now that he had picked up, he realized there seemed to be hidden bunkers everywhere scattering through the woods. Percy saw light ahead of the him and the group jogged out into a lush green field. The area was quite beautiful, and Percy was awed by all the different flowers that could be seen.

Blain raised his hand, bringing the company to a halt, then turned to address them.

"Right then, now as most of you better have seen when we passed it a minute back, there is a large base of operations for one of our teams in the side of the woods we just came from. The other base, will be in the same spot to our north. Squadron one and three, you will take the base we passed, two and four, you will take the one to our north. Your weapons and equipment will be found in the main bunker of said base as well as a mandatory armband each member of the team must wear to differentiate you from your opponents. The objective of the game for today is to eliminate all members of the opposing team, plain and simple. Any shot that would result in death will immobilize your target until the end of the game, if it is simply a shot that would maim or wound, then the target will have the area hit paralyzed. When your HUD's say go, the game is on, and it will not end until one team has emerged victorious. Now, off with you lot, move it!"

Percy and Alpha Squad, along with Gamma Squad, made their way back the way they had come from as instructed. Percy was anxious. He knew that his squadron was capable, as was Gamma, but the odds it seemed were not in their favour. They were up against some of the best in the battalion. Zoe was the leader in all but name of delta squadron, which by some odd coincidence was made up of all girls, very dangerous girls, but also arrogant. Thalia, Annabeth, and Luke Castellan were all a part of Beta squad, and had a good core group of soldiers to back them. Alpha had some big names of it's own, and Clarisse may have been the defacto leader of Gamma, but it would be a hard fight to win.

The two squads slowly walked through the gates of their 'Home Base', taking in the place. Percy looked around too, but instead of simply admiring it, he was thinking strategically. He examined each of the four towers, the height of the walls, the few holes that marred the walls here and there, and thought of where it would be best to place defenders. While he was doing this, Nico had walked over with most of the other cadets and grabbed equipment for both he and Percy.

Upon returning to his friend, and seeing him still analyzing the defences, Nico chuckled to himself.

 _He's more like his father than he'd ever care to admit._ The boy mused, before tossing Percy a training sword with blue sparking edges.

Percy was completely caught off guard, but his instincts took over and he caught the blade mid air. He scowled at Nico, who wore a cheeky grin and handed him the rest of his equipment. Percy put on the dark kevlar vest and gauntlets, the black helmet with a blue visor **(It looks like a Corinthian helmet, but has breathing tubes stretching down both sides of the face, the eye and mouth slants are completely covered by tinted blue material that acts as Percy's HUD, and the symbol of Chaos is present on the forehead of all training helms. For those of you that want a proper visualization of the training armour and whatnot, go to the ending author's note and follow the instructions, then come back here and continue to read!)** , and blue armband one by one, then flung his gun holster around his back, and sword holster at his hip. With his helmet on, his HUB came to life, and a number of fifty in both his top corners of vision appeared. Captain Blain came on the speaker in his helm, and he focused in on his voice.

"I hope the equipment is to all your likings recruits, if it's not, deal with it. Now, as you can see, you have two number fifties in each corner of your visors. these represent the number of opponents and allies you have left on in play. Your friends are on the right, your enemies on the left. Everything you do while wearing these helmets can be viewed by Jensen or I, as well as the board of directors, so make sure you are always performing to the best of your abilities! Good luck soldiers, and may the best team win."

Blain's voice tuned out and a countdown of one minute popped up on Percy's HUD. Quickly, he ran over towards Clarisse, Nico hot on his trail, and stood beside her. The taller well built girl was surrounded by a few of her squadmates, and was giving them orders she wanted executed once the match began.

"Mark, take 5 of our men and march out the right side. Sherman, take another five and march up the left. I will take the remainder and lead the vanguard up the center, any questions?" The girl asked in an authoritative voice.

Both the Gamma squadron members shook their heads and the girl nodded. She then turned to Percy and looked him over.

"What do you need Jackson?"

"Why are you splitting your forces?" Percy wore a blank expression.

"Why do you care?" The girl snorted in response.

"I care because when you and yours are picked off right away from being in small groups, then it puts my squadron at a disadvantage. We'd have to face two squadrons alone."

Clarisse's expression was one of annoyance and slight anger at that point, and she got in Percy's face. Nico took a step forward as if to help him, and across the base Percy could see Leo begin to head over scowling, Charles and Silena close behind him. Percy raised a hand and all of his friends stopped, nodding.

"What makes you think this will happen Jackson?" The girl growled.

"I've seen Zoe in battle tactics and strategy class, and while she would not shy away from an open fight, her prefered method of warfare is that of stealth and ambush, guerilla tactics almost. If you continue on with this plot, you will be playing right into her hands." Percy shrugged.

Clarrise looked down at this, knowing he was right, but then smirked and look back into his eyes.

"What makes you think Zoe will be the one in charge, your friend Annabeth is by far the best strategist on that team, would they not agree that the logical choice to go by would be her strategy and not Zoe's?"

Percy chuckled a little. "Of course of course, but you forget the stubbornness of Zoe and the Delta squadron itself. Plus, Annabeth is smart, and anybody, especially her, would be able to see that an ambush in this lovely wooded terrain is a logical and sound option."

Clarisse tried to form another argument, but couldn't, and eventually growled then nodded in acceptance.

"Alright Jackson, you win this time. What would you have us do then?"

Percy thought on that for a moment. If a small scouting party was seen by Zoe and Delta, then he assumed their arrogance would lead them to move in, regardless of the fact that they would be revealed, but he knew Annabeth would argue against this move, causing divide in the enemy troops. This would likely lead to Zoe charging her squadron forward alone, while Annabeth or Luke lead Beta back to base. Percy smiled, and explained this to Clarisse.

"Well, gotta say I didn't think of that.. Gamma is with you Jackson, but is Alpha?" She looked behind him to see that many members of Alpha were doing their own thing in small clusters.

Percy pulled his training rifle from his back and fired once into the air, right as the word go flashed across his HUD. The members of Alpha, instead of running in their own directions as they had been about to do, stopped and turned to look toward the area the shot had come from. With their attention on them, Percy addressed his squad.

He explained exactly as he had to Clarisse. Percy could see many heads nodding in the crowd, but the odd one or two seemed torn.

"Gamma squadron backs Jackson." He heard Clarisse say to his left side.

This statement seemed to strengthen the remainders resolve, and looking around Percy realized that Alpha was with him.

"We're with ya Perce, just tell us what to do and where to go." Travis Stoll said from his spot between his twin and Katie Gardner.

Percy smiled to him, and ordered the troops to follow him. He left five cadets behind to guard the base under the command of Charles Beckendorf in case things went poorly and they had to fall back. The remaining forty four troops marched out the main gate with Percy, and together they set down the trail.

Upon reaching a spot just outside the big field in the center, Percy asked for four volunteers to come to the front. Leo stepped forth from Alpha, and two boys and one girl stepped forth from Gamma.

"Now, I'm going to need you four to act as the 'bait' in this operation. You will be playing the role of the scouting party here, and will walk out into the field as though you are looking for any sight of the enemy. The moment the first shot comes your way, I want you to run back here as fast as you can, and lead Delta right down this main trail. Anywhere else and the plan will not work, understood?"

The three members from Gamma nodded, but Leo looked at him with a blank expression.

"Uh, no, could you repeat all of that please? I wasn't really paying attention.." Leo said with a stupid look on his face.

Percy laid his face in the palm of his hand and sighed.

"I kid boss I kid, Leo Valdez has this in the bag!" The curly haired boy said smiling.

"Sure you do champ, now, get into position and go be a good piece of bait at my signal." Percy chuckled lightly. Leo gave an exaggerated salute and walked off with the Gamma cadets. Percy turned around and began arranging the rest of the cadets in the underbrush. They hid in the bushes and behind any natural ridges they could find to each side of the main trail. Some were positioned in a bunker looking out towards the field incase Beta decided to charge out to Zoe's aid. Not likely, but precautions had to be taken all the same for any circumstance.

Once all his troops were in position, Percy waved the 'scouting party' forward into the field. Lead by Leo, the four cadets advanced. Percy had to admit they played their part well. One of the members from Gamma had even managed to procure a set of binoculars from the main base and was scanning the tree line. The others took position around her, crouching low in the medium length grass and acting as any scouting party would, watching their environment.

Quicker than Percy could blink, the green flash of a Viro-Arrow zoomed across the field and took one of the boys from Gamma in the chest, dissolving on impact and removing him instantly from the game. Had this been real combat, Percy would have just sent the boy to his death.

"He knew what he was walking into." Clarisse said from beside him, and he nodded slowly.

The scouting party quickly turned on thier heels and high tailed it back to blue team's side of the field. It seemed that they had moved instantly out of range, as no more green flashes came for a time. The scouting party made their way back into the cover of Percy's woods within thirty seconds, yet still no members of Delta appeared from the other side of the clearing. The cadets on Percy's team began to grow restless, and a little anxious.

"Shouldn't they have followed by now?" He heard a voice say far off to his right.

"Shut up you idiot! They might hear you!" Another hissed in a quieter tone.

Another long pause occurred, and with no sign of activity coming from the other side of the field, Percy had begun to question whether they should pull back or not. Right as he was about to voice this thought however, a motion of black and silver appeared from the woods across the way, then another, and another. Soon, the entirety of Delta was in the field and crossing. Following the style of Zoe, the female warband that was Delta had all opted to use a Viro-Bow, and had trained vigorously with them together over the past few months. They could hit a shot just as far away and just and accurately as some of Alpha's best snipers, such as Michael Yew and Will Solace.

Percy's ambush capitalized on this factor however, as while Delta might hold the advantage at a distance, when they walked into his trap, the cadets would be very close to them, able to accurately pick off the girls in mass waves. He expected that there might be some close combat in the final stages of the ambush, so he had his sword ready at his side, and instructed the most competent of the other cadets in close quarters to be near the front of their ambush lines and ready to rush in with him should the need arise.

Delta grew closer and closer to their lines and all of the blue team crouched low into their hiding positions, while the scouting party ran further down the road, then stopped and turned as though they were making a final stand.

Zoe Nightshade herself was at the head the column of Delta members that made it's way down the road. They ran gracefully between Clarisse and Percy's troops, not noticing any of them. When all of them had entered the forest, and the majority of their members were in the middle of the hidden cadets, Percy gave a battle cry and sprung up from his spot, gunning down the first enemy cadet he saw. His cry was echoed almost instantly by the others, and the underbrush around Delta came to life with Alpha and Gamma Squad members.

Most of Delta was cut down right away. They fell in groups as the blue training plasma bullets made contact with them until only a few remained at the head of the collum, lead by Zoe. The girl, who had initially been caught off guard, had now gathered the four remaining Delta members she could and ran head first at Leo and the remaining two 'scouts' frowning fiercely to show her anger at having fell for such a trap. The scouts were firing at the girls head on, but only managed to drop two of them due to their agility. Percy stepped out from his position and onto the trail. He raised his rifle to his shoulder and slowly took a deep breath, lining up his sight with Zoe's back. As his breath released, he squeezed down on the trigger and watched in satisfaction as the 'leader' of Delta crumpled to the ground in a paralyzed heep. The last two Delta members were caught so off guard that they paused briefly in their charge, and this pause cost them their in games lives. Leo and the two Gamma Scouts lit them up, and they soon joined Zoe on the ground.

A loud cheer rang through Alpha and Gamma squadrons, who had only lost two of their combined members each. Blue team was sitting in a very clear lead at this moment, with the number on the left side of their HUD's reading twenty five, and the one in the top right reading forty seven. Percy smiled to himself from within the confines of his helmet, his plan had led his fellow cadets to a big victory. He knew however that there was no time to waste celebrating, and quickly rallied Alpha to him and began marching across the field towards the enemy main base, Clarisse close behind with Gamma.

When the enemy base came into sight, the cadets of blue team encircled it. Percy had called back to Beckendorf and the base defenders to come meet up with the main force on his HUD, and while they waited for them, Percy, Clarisse, Nico, Leo, and Clarisse's two seeming under officers Mark and Sherman, worked together to try and make a plan that would lead them to taking the base with as little casualties as possible.

"I say we just storm it. We have the numbers on our side, and while we may lose a few more troops, eventually we'd overpower them." Mark spoke first.

Nico shook his head. "No, the Captain will look more favourably on our victory if it is decisive rather than pyrrhic. We need to make sure as many of us that can make it through this assault."

Percy nodded at this, as his friend had spoken exactly as he had been thinking, Clarisse however seemed to disagree.

"We followed Jackson for the ambush, now it should be my turn! I agree with Mark, storming the place is the easiest and most logical option." She said hefting up her rifle.

A plan began to formulate in Percy's head, and he smiled.

"You did indeed follow my plan in the beginning, and look how many of our team are still up and fighting because of it." He said, receiving a glare from Clarisse before continuing. "I propose, we use Mark's plan, but also, utilize the terrain to our advantage, and have some Alpha flank round both side will Gamma does the assault." Clarisse raised a brow at this.

"What were you thinking Jackson?"

Percy drew his sword and sketched out a nice rough drawing of their location, and that of the base. He then drew four different boxes, three with and A on them, one in the center with a G. He then drew arrows showing where they would go. Two A's were positioned to the right and left flanks, but far back enough that they would not be seen by the defenders of the base. The box with a G and the last box with and A were both right in front of the base, and had arrows going straight on.

"Right, here's how we're going to do this." Percy began, taking his blade and first pointing it at the boxes directly in front of the base. "Half of Alpha will advance with all of Gamma in a full frontal assault. However, it will be organized, and you will advance behind cover with acting support whenever you move up." Clarisse grunted at this, and Percy turned to her.

"Clarisse, how many members of Gamma picked up a portable shield?"

"Maybe seven or eight, not many thought it would come in handy as they're using assault rifles." The girl shrugged.

Percy grimaced. With that little amount of shields this would be much more difficult. He knew some shield bearers would fall with each push, so the advance would be highly dependant on support gunners. He straightened himself and nodded, putting on a better face for his fellow cadets.

"Right then, all those with shields will advance down the main trail at the entrance head on. Each shield bearer will have a gunner at their back, and should they fall, the gunner will stop giving support coverage and pick up the shield themselves, everybody got that?" Those around Percy nodded in response, and he smiled, moving to the two boxes on either side of the base with A's on them.

"Right, now these little squadrons will be small. Five men to a party, and I want Michael Yew in one, and Will Solace in the other, as well as a spotter for each of them. Each squadron will sneak around on both sides, position their snipers to take out any sentries that are not drawn off by the main assault, and advance to enter the base from the rear ends, flanking the main defender line and crippling their defence. Nico you will lead the squadron on the left, I will take the right. Clarisse, you will spearhead the main assault. Any questions?" Percy raised his head from looking down at his sketched out plan in the dirt to see all the other cadets around him looking in his direction, with something akin to awe in their eyes. Clarisse was the first to break the silence.

"Hell yeah Jackson, let's take em down!" She hefted her spear and rifle, then walked off to gather her troops, Mark and Sherman close behind her. Nico did the same to go find the few people he'd need in his team and Will Solace. Percy nodded for Leo to follow him, then gathered Michael Yew, Beckendorf, and Selina. Once in position, he looked across the field to see that Nico had picked up the Stolls and Katie Gardner to join him and Will.

 _Smart choices buddy._ Percy silently praised him.

He turned his attention back to his task, and when he heard Clarisse give a mighty war cry from the center trail, he and his team broke off in a wide right angle. He heard shots being fired to his left, and knew that the Vanguard must have made contact already.

"Double time cadets! If this is going to work we need the vanguard to still be alive when we flank!" He called to his followers, who picked up the pace at his words.

Within a minute they arrived at a prime sniper's resting position, and Michael banked off from the group to take his spot. Selina followed to act as his spotter, while Percy, Leo, and Beck slowly began to move towards the back right wall of the base.

"Hold up, you have two sentries in the tower there Percy." Michael called over his HUD. Percy raised a hand to signal his friends to stop, then they all dropped low into the surrounding shrubbery.

"How you wanna handle this Yew?" Percy responded.

"I can take them, I just need to wait for one to turn their b-" Michael's voice cut out, and Percy was worried that he might have been found, but when he turned and saw one of the sentries fall facing one way, then the other soon after facing the other, he smiled.

"Great work Yew!" He said into his HUD speaker.

"Yeah yeah, now go take em out and win this for us bossman."

Percy waved his hand to get Leo and Beck to their feet, and together they advanced into the rear end of the base. Upon entering, Percy peered around the corner of the command center, taking note of all the defenders and their positions. He then called out to Nico on his HUD.

"Hey goth, you guys in?"

"Nah I decided to take a break there Perce, we turned around and went to find the closest food joint." Percy heard giggling in the background of Nico's reply that must've belonged to the Stolls.

"Ha, ha, ha. Now, be ready on my mark." He raised his rifle, and let out a deep breath from the inside of his Helmet.

"Three." Percy inhaled.

"Two." Exhaled.

"One." He placed his finger on the trigger, lining up his sights.

"Mark." He fired, as did all his fellow companions.

His plan had worked perfectly.

 **Surprise ending out of nowhere trap card activated! Nah you all probably saw that coming. For those of you who are here for the visual image of the cadet training armour, look up hero machine 2.5 on google (It's a program I used as a kid and I thought it would be nice to show you guys what I was kinda thinking so you can see the cadets as I see them, don't judge me!), click on load character, then paste this code (It's long AF).**

2.5b7*m1*Chaos Training Battle Gear*Hair:Standard,fraBlank,ffffff,ffffff,100,100,23,Eyebrows:Standard,fraBlank,ffffff,ffffff,100,100,21,Eyes:Standard,fraBlank,ffffff,ffffff,100,100,20,Nose:Standard,fraBlank,ffffff,ffffff,100,100,27,Mouth:Standard,fraBlank,ffffff,ffffff,100,100,18,Beard:Standard,fraBlank,ffffff,ffffff,100,100,26,Ears:Standard,fraBlank,ffffff,ffffff,100,100,19,Skin:Standard,fraBlank,ffffff,ffffff,100,100,6,Mask:Standard,fraBlank,ffffff,ffffff,100,100,22,Headgear:Standard,fraBlank,ffffff,ffffff,100,100,29,Undershirt:Standard,midsleeve,9C9C9C,9C9C9C,100,100,7,Overshirt:Standard,studded,000000,000000,100,100,8,Coat:Standard,fraBlank,ffffff,ffffff,100,100,25,RightGlove:Standard,fraBlank,ffffff,ffffff,100,100,17,LeftGlove:Standard,fraBlank,ffffff,ffffff,100,100,16,Insignia:Standard,fraBlank,FFFFFF,FFFFFF,100,100,9,Neckwear:Standard,fraBlank,ffffff,ffffff,100,100,24,Belt:Standard,crossingguard,181818,9C9C9C,100,100,15,Leggings:Standard,stripes,181818,070707,100,100,10,Overleggings:Standard,capris,000000,070707,100,100,11,Pants:Standard,bdu,070707,070707,100,100,14,RightFoot:Standard,fraBlank,ffffff,ffffff,100,100,13,LeftFoot:Standard,fraBlank,ffffff,ffffff,100,100,12,Back:Standard,fraBlank,ffffff,ffffff,100,100,3,Wings:Standard,fraBlank,ffffff,ffffff,100,100,4,Tail:Standard,fraBlank,ffffff,ffffff,100,100,5,Aura:Standard,fraBlank,ffffff,ffffff,100,100,2,Companion:Standard,fraBlank,ffffff,ffffff,100,100,31,Background:Standard,fraBlank,ffffff,ffffff,100,100,1,RightHand:Standard,fraBlank,ffffff,ffffff,100,100,30,LeftHand:Standard,fraBlank,ffffff,ffffff,100,100,28,#

 **Thank you all for reading another chapter! Next one'll be out next friday, if I don't decide to take on that other fic (Still debating). Much love, and Gods guide you, for the night is dark and full of terrors,**

 **Chrome.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N**

 **What is up all you beautiful people. So, Before anybody gets upset due to uh, events in this chapter, know that going in, I still have not decided on the pairing, though it may seem that way. Also, I would like to know how everybody is feeling about the time skips I'm doing. Personally, I don't like it when a single fic keeps the characters as little kids for like a ton of chapters and just kinda drabbles on about their crappy-ness or OP-ness in training at the young age and whatnot, but that might just be me. I know for sure the next chap will if anything be a few days or week time skip at most to introduce the proper games, but am unsure whether or not I wish to keep skipping after that or do some more chaps highlighting the games themselves. Let me know what you're thinking in the reviews please, and I will make my decision based on your feedback as well as what I think I'm capable or writing.**

 **Now, reviews!**

 **Guest 1 - Well I'm glad I managed to capture your attention that well :P Thank you very much, and thank you for your pairing feedback!**

 **Shiningsilverwolf - Ah it is very nice to see a new name in the reviews, thank you very much, and welcome to my story!**

 **LittleManY2K - Thank you once more for your encouragement my friend, it truly works wonders for my writing morale, haha! As for your question, since I feel it's not giving too much away, yes, this is how I will introduce the Romans and the rest of the seven not yet included in the story. I have indeed read Ender's Game, wonderful book, and a half decent movie too!**

 **Guest 2 - Thank you very much kind sir or madam, and thank you for reviewing!**

 **Omega Alpha Hydra - Perfect, and I must admit that they are my favourite pairing in the PJO fanfiction universe as well ;). I don't know how many people actually looked at that, but I am sorry you were unable to! Thank you very much once again for your steadfast reviews!**

 **Son of Energy - Another new face! Welcome sir, and thank you very much for your support! There are indeed some EG inspired themes in here :)**

 **Alright, that about does it, I'll shut up now. Hope you all enjoy!**

Chapter 5

Never Lost, only Buried

The four months after Percy's first games passed quickly. After leading his troops to victory, the cadets of Alpha squad had elected Percy to be their leader until the time came when the true one would be selected. The decision was unanimous. Percy for his part had filled the role well, and taken it all in stride. He had not grown the arrogance that comes to many in a leadership position, however he had gained the charisma.

He cared for all of the members in his squadron, and saw them all as an extension of his family of sorts. Anybody in the Alpha squad knew that if they had a problem they could take it up with Percy anytime, or if they had something going on he would always be there for them to talk to. While he gained experience over time, he had had a natural affinity for leading from the start, and unbeknownst to him, it had always been evident.

Knowing this, nobody was surprised when he was named to the commander position of Alpha with Nico and Leo as his seconds. The trio were closer than any others at the academy along with Thalia and Annabeth, so much so that if a person were to ask them at that point in time if they would die for one another, they would have received a quick and confident answer of absolutely.

They were sitting in the mess hall together on the morning of the choosing for battalion Centurion when they saw the first reports. Bombs had gone off, taking out entire planets around the United Systems from many different species. Percy watched many of the cadets around him that day drop to the floor and weep for their undoubtedly dead loved ones, and he grimaced knowing there was nothing he could do to help. It was a horrible feeling to see those he considers his family in pain.

The people behind the bombings were believed to the be an organization called The Scythe. They were a renowned terror group throughout the universe, however their crimes before the bombings had always been that of piracy and the kidnapping of distant settlers in outer space from time to time. They were believed to have their lair somewhere out in Dark Space, the uncharted areas of the ever expansive universe. Percy could not for the life of him think of a motive behind their attacks, unless their leader had some kind of grudge against the Systems, then it seemed a completely random and unwarranted strike.

He was nudged out of his thought by a hand on his shoulder, and looked into the grey eyes of the frowning blonde haired girl it belonged to.

"Hey, you okay seaweed brain?" Annabeth asked him in a worried tone.

Truth be told, he was far from okay. Percy's mother had been on the planet Farros on a mission of mercy to try and aid any injured in its current civil war when the bombs there had gone off. The only things left on the wretched planet now were charred bones and smoking ruins. He had only just talked to her a few weeks back, when she had contacted him to wish him a happy fifteenth birthday. Percy wished now that that call had never ended, and that they were still talking about the stupid blue birthday cake she had made and had sent out just for him.

Upon seeing the reports, Percy's body had not known how to react. He wanted to cry, Gods damn it all he deserved to cry, but he knew he couldn't. He was a leader now, and he had to be strong, for his new family, for his friends. His weakness could be shown in the later hours, when he was alone. He would not burden his friends with his sadness.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." He replied in a shaky voice while giving a slow nod.

The blonde was sceptical, and she was not alone in her thoughts because across the table, Nico, Thalia, and Leo all gave Percy the same sympathetic look. He hated it. Percy needed no pity, he needed to train. He needed to become the very best soldier he could ever be, he needed to gain any skills he could at the academy before he graduated. He needed to take down the Scythe as soon as he got out.

Slowly, he rose to his feet, not listening to the protest of those around him, and walked out of the mess hall. He didn't really know where he was going, but he knew he no longer had the stomach to eat. He made his way down the long corridors and out of the main building. He walked down along the path to the arena, and entered its cold confines.

He heard the occasional sound of what seemed like something being hit by a hard object or two and realized he was not alone. He turned to see non other than Zoe Nightshade,the newly named commander of Delta squadron relentlessly destroying one of the practice dummies with her training knives.

 _Have I no luck to my name at all?_ Percy thought to himself with a sigh.

Ever since his technical but unintentional embarrassment of her in the first games, Zoe had had it out for Percy. She had become his rival in all things he could think of. She would always search him out in the squadron matches and try to fight him one on one or simply pick him off like a coward from the trees. Admittedly, they were a fairly evenly matched pair, however Percy seemed to be better trained in melee combat, while Zoe excelled more in the ranged variety.

Looking at her from across the arena, Percy examined the girl. Grudgingly, he would admit that she was very beautiful. She had raven black locks that flowed down her back in a single braid, her skin was of a copper complexion, she was taller in stature with a slightly upturned nose, and she carried herself in an almost regal manner. The grace and agility with which she fought was unparalleled, and even though he bore no love for the arrogant girl, Percy found himself awed by the way she fought.

In the middle of a spinning strike, she rounded and threw a blade directly by Percy's ear, leaving a very small cut. Percy raised his hand to it and felt a small trickle of blood begin to flow down, he scowled.

"Why is it that you watch me Jackson?" The girl spat.

Just like that, Percy was snapped out of it and reminded of the Zoe Nightshade he knew and loathed.

"Came to train, same as you." He replied in a cold fashion.

The girl gave him a strange look. Normally, she was one of if not the only one who ever came to train during the eating breaks they received. Her look changed to a vicious smirk then as she responded.

"Stomach too weak to watch the news boy? Have you not the courage to watch what the enemies you will one day fight are capable off?" She laughed at him.

"My mother was on Farros yesterday, now she is not." Percy looked down as he responded in a neutral voice, careful not to let it crack and allow his tidal wave of emotions flow forth. He his way over to a weapons rack.

As he reached for a sword, he felt a hand on his shoulder and spun around, ready to give a sharp verbal jab at the girl who had just triggered his rage. To his surprise, instead of malice, a look of sorrow and shame was the expression on her face.

"I.. I am sorry. I thought not of my words before they left my mouth." She let her hand drop and looked into his eyes, and Percy could see she truly meant it.

The boy nodded in acceptance. He grabbed hold of the sword he had originally been reaching for and walked over to begin practicing his strikes on another dummy. To his surprise, Zoe followed behind him and moved to do the same with another dummy beside his.

"I don't need sympathy, from you or anyone else." Percy stated coldly between strikes.

The girl stood there and chuckled bitterly.

"Who said I had any sympathy for you?"

Percy nodded at this, she made a fair point.

"I don't like you Jackson, if I'm honest I don't see what everybody else sees in you, but as someone who has been in the situation you're going through now before, I can empathize with you.." She trailed off slowly and looked away.

Percy stopped swinging his sword at the dummy and turned, a frown on his face.

"What happened..?" He asked her slowly.

She walked over to one of the few windows to the side and looked out before responding.

"It is a very… sensitive matter, to put things bluntly. To reveal that would be to reveal my parentage and..." She trailed off.

"We may not completely enjoy one another Zoe, but we are in the same battalions and one day will fight side by side against tyranny and evil. I give you my word that you can trust me with." Percy looked over at her with a serious look visible on his face.

"Fine.." The girl sighed and looked at him. "My father is Atlas, former High Admiral of the Empire of Order, Current prisoner on planet Othrys in the Titane system. My mother was a woman named Pleione, of the United Systems. They met before the war broke out, and from what I've been told held some love for each other in those days." She stopped and turned to read Percy's expression.

The son of Poseidon took her statements in slowly and with care. By all rights she should not have been at the academy, as no citizens former or current from the old Empire were permitted to attend. He assumed however that due to her Chaotic blood, some of her relatives must have lied to get her in, or somebody she was close to. He nodded for her to continue.

"A year after the war broke out my mother attempted to escape back to the systems. Atlas found out and sent an attack cruiser after her. The cruiser opened fire and destroyed the civilian refugee ship she was on, but was then taken out by a nearby Alarii battle party that had been patrolling the region. The Alarii saved what people they could from the wreckage, my mother among them. She died hours later giving birth to me." The girl finished her statement, a lone tear falling down her face.

Slowly, without thinking of the repercussions and of what he was doing, Percy made his way over to the girl and put a hand on her shoulder. She was shocked at first and went to pull away, but to Percy's surprise, she stopped and gave him a small grateful nod while wiping the lone tear on her face.

"You know, we're more alike than we realize I think." Percy said to the girl with a small smile.

This statement seemed to snap the girl out of her sadness as she let out a small laugh.

"Please! I am ten times the warrior you'll ever be boy. You are slow and clumsy on your feet, and have the aim of a poorly trained Felucian Inquisitor!" She said it as a statement, however somehow Percy knew it was a joke.

"You fight like a Seelie diplomat and won't acknowledge when there may be somebody just as skilled or better than you." Percy retorted as he walked past her and sat down against the wall.

The girl smiled slowly and sat down beside him, though not too close. They sat in silence for a moment before Percy broke it.

"Does it get better..?" He asked her slowly.

Initially Zoe was confused by the question, until she looked at the pained and depressed expression Percy wore.

"You learn to live with it, though it never truly leaves you. It's like there's always some hope inside you telling you that it might just be a dream, and that soon you'll wake up and the person you lost will be right there in front of you when you. The pain will be with you for a long time, though while you cannot lose it entirely, you can learn to cope with it." She responded slowly.

"It doesn't feel real.." Percy agreed with moisture forming in his eyes.

"And it won't for a long time, but it's something you have to deal with Jackson, especially now. It's easier if you find things to take your mind off it." She rose to her feet and offered him a hand up.

"Like what..?" He asked as he took the hand.

"Like.. sparring!" She raised her knives in a challenging fighter's stance with a grin plastered across her face.

"Fine then, but I won't hold back just because you're a girl." Percy slowly pulled out his blade entered a fighter's stance as well with a matching grin.

"Oh, I'm counting on it." Zoe replied with a chuckle as the two began to circle one another.

Both were skilled fighters, so they knew to wait and analyse their opponent before striking. The circling went on for a good minute before Zoe made the first move. With her graceful agility, she rolled forward and swung one of her right handed dagger at Percy's left side, forcing him to pivot and meet her strike with his sword, which he carried in his right hand. This move left his back exposed, and Zoe thrust her left handed knife towards it, only to meet an empty space as Percy stepped forward and out of the way.

Percy pushed his blade down, bringing Zoe's right arm with it. He then stepped on her hand, swatting away her other dagger strike with his blade. The girl grimaced and quickly let go of the dagger that hand held, rolling just out of the way of Percy's next sword strike.

"Dirty Jackson, very dirty." She growled.

"All's fair in battle Nightshade." He responded with a chuckle.

He waited a moment, then kicked her knife back to her. Perseus Jackson was many things, but he had a code of honour that he prided himself on. While in a real fight he would not have returned it, this was no real fight, and a lone knife against a blade was not exactly what one might consider fair. Swiftly, Zoe grabbed the knife off the ground and leaped at him.

Percy countered this time by stepping up himself, and juking right while holding out his left leg. Any other fighter might have gone flying, sprawled across the floor, but Zoe Nightshade was not just any other fighter. The girl changed course last minute and slid right between his legs. Percy brought his blade up around his back just in time to block the immediate strike she attempted after rising.

Percy kicked back with his foot, and in satisfaction, felt it make contact. He pivoted quickly, bringing his sword down over his shoulder in a sturdy swing of strength. The blade sailed through empty air, and Percy stood dumbstruck for a moment, until he felt the cold steel fixed with the heat of the training plasma pressed against the back of his neck. Before Zoe could ask for his yield, ducked down and swung his legs around, knocking her's out from under her pivoting once more.

The look on the girl's face was absolutely priceless. It was a mixture of shock, rage, and if Percy hadn't thought himself crazy to think it, he would've even said a small amount of admiration was visible briefly, though it was quickly covered up. He gave the girl time to rise once more to her feet, then the fight began once more.

It seemed like hours that they went at each other, in reality it was only twenty minutes, however to the combatants it did not feel that way. One would gain the advantage at one point, only for the other to gain ground within the next assault. Back and forth it went, until at one point, Percy pretended to make a mistake, drawing Zoe into a full frontal lung at his intentionally left open lower back.

Quicker than the girl could blink, Percy knocked one knife from a hand. Acting on instincts alone, she pounced onto the boy. Percy felt her knife touch his throat, however the smile that threatened to split his face was caused by the fact that his sword with positioned directly in front of her chest. The match had ended in a draw, and both fighters stayed still for a while, heaving to regain their lost breath.

After a few moments of recuperation, Zoe realized the position the two were in and quickly rolled off, hiding the red tinge on her cheeks by turning her back to Percy.

"Well fought Jackson." She said while regaining her composure.

"Same to you Nightshade." Percy responded from his place on the floor that he had yet to move from.

The two sat in a comfortable silence for a time. Like all good things though, it had to come to an end when the voice of an announcer on the academy speakers called out to any roaming cadets to report to their barracks, as the eating for the day had ended, and due to the events that had just transpired around the universe, there would be no training that day.

Zoe walked over to Percy and gave him a hand up, which he accepted gratefully.

"You know, you're not so bad Zoe." Percy gave a small smile.

The girl snorted and turned around, walking for the door.

"Hey! That's supposed to be the part where you say 'You're not so bad yourself Jackson'!" Percy whined, bringing a wide grin and small chuckle to the girl who was by then at the door.

"Keep telling yourself that Perseus." She nodded her head in farewell as she exited the arena.

"Well. Rude." Percy said to himself as he too made his way towards the exit.

Upon leaving the building, he spotted his friends across the field, and made his way over to them via the grey stoney paths. Leo was the first to see him of the group, and with a big grin on his face he called out to him.

"Ehh! He's alive guys!" All members of the group turned to look in the direction Leo was facing at this, and relieved expressions appeared on many of their faces.

Percy smiled as he sauntered over. Upon arriving he was given a prompt smack by Annabeth, much to the amusement of the rest of the group.

"What was that for?" He asked in shock, rubbing his cheek.

"You scared us!" She yelled as a retort.

Percy grumbled a bit, but noded. Running off like that while it was evident he was not in the best state would've probably frightened them. He looked down realizing his mistake.

"Oh.. Right, I'm sorry.." He mumbled.

Annabeth just shook her head and sighed.

"Don't be, I just.. I hope you're okay.." She spoke the last part softly.

The rest of the group nodded at this, they all were worried for their friend.

"I'll be fine." Percy gave a strong effort to make a smile appear on his face, which seemed to win them over, at least at that point in time.

"Right well, now that depresso-party pooper mode has been deactivated, can we get back to the barracks? I want to get my seat as Centurion as soon as possible." Leo spoke up from the back ranks of the group.

This statement was followed by a resounding laugh echoed by all those present, which aggravated curly haired Latino boy.

"Oh, you can laugh it up now, but when I win this title, you're all on bathroom duty for life! And you will take turns hand feeding me cupcakes each day, because I will have the power to make that happen!" He yelled fervently.

"Sure buddy, sure.." Nico chuckled, wiping a tear of laughter from his face.

The group set off in the direction of the barracks, Leo in the front going off about how 'when he's centurion he'll always have to march in the front' and that the others should 'just get used to it now'.

Percy chuckled once more at his antics, and upon reaching the door to the barracks, stepped in after him.

The lounging area was crowded with the rest of the members of the three hundred thirty second, and Percy's group had to shoulder their way to the front of the crowd.

In front, stood Captain Blain, Hoplite Jensen, and all the squadron leaders, except Percy himself.

Wish a slight flush rising in his cheeks, Percy hurried to join them. He could feel the eyes of all those present following him as he made his way to stand beside the leader of Beta, Luke Castellan. The boy briefly looked his way, his short sandy blond hair catching one of the lights. He was a few months older than Percy or an of his other friends for that matter, and was apparently very close with Annabeth and Thalia even before they all came to the academy. He had a taller build, and what many girl's described to be a handsome face, only marred by the long pale scar that travelled from the bottom of his left eye to his chin. Percy had no idea where the boy had received it from, but it sure was menacing in a way.

Luke had been kind to Percy since the first time they met, when Thalia had introduced him. He was apparently the son of Admiral Hermes Castellan of the Olympian Recon fleet, explaining how Thalia and Percy supposed Annabeth had known him.

"Blain will have a heart attack if you continue to show up to important events late Jackson." The blonde boy stated, breaking Percy from his thoughts.

He contained his laughter and responded.

"We all know how very unfortunate that would be."

The blonde boy smirked at this then turned to face forward once more. Blain had begun a longer talk about how the duty of Centurion was one of great value and prestige, and that to be chosen as one was a great honour.

 _It's not like we already know this or anything._ Percy thought to himself.

"Your Centurion will be your guide, your leader! He or she will represent you in any endeavours you do alongside their squadron leaders. As I stated a while back, your opinions for who should be your Centurion were taken into consideration, and while the votes were close, it was clear there were two main candidates in this squadron to the board of directors even before the votes confirmed it."

The cadets began to murmur among themselves, and Percy heard the voice of Leo behind him.

"Well, whoever the other big shot is he can stuff it because Leo Valdez will reign sup-" His sentence was cut off and a gasping for air was heard. Percy assumed someone, namely Thalia, had elbowed his gut and knocked the wind out of him.

"Cadets of the three hundred and thirty second, I would like you to show your new Centurion the respect he deserves and give Perseus Jackson your cheers." Blain said, and the cadets around him began to clap.

Percy was in a state of nostalgia, and couldn't believe what had just happened. He had thought for sure Luke would be the one the directors chose, as he was in Percy's mind the more logical choice.

After a few minutes of congratulations the cadets began to head for their rooms, leaving only Percy's group of friends and a few strays in the lounge. He looked up to find Leo with a slightly fearful expression on his face and raised a brow.

"Hey uh, Boss.." The Latino boy said hesitantly.

"Yes Leo..?" He responded slowly.

"You know I was kidding about the cupcakes, right?"

 **A/N**

 **Well, that'll be it for this week folks, next chapter will be out at the new regular date, next friday. I have an idea going on for my next fic and have begun working on an outline, but it'll be a while before I decide to begin working on it. Also, to any of you game of thrones fans out there, my good friend (Who is also my Beta, though he hasn't made an account yet so I can't credit him!) and I are going to co-write a GoT fanfic sometime within the next few months so be on the lookout for that! Until next time, much love and Gods guide you all, for the night is dark and full of terrors,**

 **Chrome**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N**

 **Ehhhhh, what is up people. I am back, throbbing headache, drippy nose and all, with the next chapter! Once again I apologize for the late update, and thank you all for understanding. Now, this won't be the longest chapter, but it's not unreasonably short either. Any of you guys tried to stare at a computer screen and think of a tale while the whole time the screen makes your already horrid headaches worse? Well if you haven't, it sucks, alot. Price of one too many concussions I guess, when your head's fucked, so are you for a few days! I'll stop boring you with my problems, and respond to reviews now :P.**

 **YungHomer - Thank you very much! It's encouraging to know that even though they don't have accounts they still take the time to follow my story, I appreciate all of your support greatly :).**

 **LittleManY2K - Can't tell yeah that yet friend, as I myself am not one hundred percent sure, though I have an idea :P. I hear ya there, it had just enough to be a decent movie, but left out too much to be a great one!**

 **Omega Alpha Hydra - Once again I thank you for your kind words friend! I love that you loved it ;). New story is Ancient Percy, former prince of Sparta, badass Spartan group, whole nine yards. I figured there weren't enough out there that start in the ancient times, plus I find the concept to be very cool, as I have a great love for ancient Greece and it's history, especially the Peloponnesian wars. My GoT story wouldn't be till around summer break, and it would indeed be posted on this account :).**

 **RockyRoy - Well thank you very much, I'm glad you like it! There may (wink) or may not (no wink) be more moments like that in the future, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait and see friend :P. I appreciate that sir, and rest assured I have no intention to stop, I'm doing Fanfiction to improve my writing skilled for my own books, but at the same time I really like doing this for the fun of it too!**

 **Tempestuous Ocean - Of course, that was always my intention. I agree it would look bad from a reading perspective for the future, thank you for your feedback :).**

 **Alright, no more talking, time for chapter. Enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer (Which I forgot last chapter, but fuck it): I do not own any of the characters or aspects of the PJO franchise. I do however own any original characters that might pop up as well as the fictional alternate universe this is based in.**

Chapter 6

Of Dreams and Games

Blood, plasma shots, and the screams of dead and dying filled the air around Percy as he crouched in cover behind a broken down transport vehicle with Nico and Leo.

"We're taking fire, pull back to the main gates!" A man screamed somewhere far off to Percy's left.

Whatever soldiers remained began to run in the direction of the gates, including Nico and Leo. Percy followed them.

He was forced to dodge the occasional explosion and constant tide of bullets that riddled and dropped waves of his fellow soldiers of Chaos. To his side, he heard Leo cry out in pain, and in his peripheral vision watched as he fell to the ground. Percy moved to turn and do what he could to aid his friend, but was stopped by the hand of Nico that found its way to his shoulder.

"He's gone Percy, we need to keep moving!" The boy yelled.

Percy grimaced and nodded, then continued to sprint in the direction they had been moving. He could mourn his friend and comrade later.

They made it through the gate just in time, the hardened metal from some far off planet or another slamming shut behind them. The blue glow of the forcefield on it shone to life, and slowly covered the entrance. Percy laid down his rifle and put his hands down on his knees to rest, Nico did the same.

The welcoming air that came with the brief pause was quickly blown away as more gunfire erupted from behind them. By the dozens Hoplites and cadets alike were mowed down, and Percy could do nothing but watch. He saw Nico fall, his body twitching many times in his plummet from the impact of the shots he received.

Percy looked on in horror as his comrades were cut down around him, and soon he too found himself on the ground with the many corpses of his fallen brothers and sisters.

Groaning in pain, Percy raised his head in an attempt to search the area for the attackers, until he felt the cold hard kiss of a hard battle armoured boot press down into one of the many shot wounds he now had littering his body.

A strong kick to his side was all the coercion Percy needed to know he had to roll over and face his assailant. He complied, and looked up to the helmet covered face of a girl. What surprised him however, was that she wore the helm of a Chaotic Hoplite.

 _Why is she attacking me? We are fighting for the same side the fool!_ Percy slowly raised his hand, thinking maybe the girl had made a mistake for been one of the survivors that had manage to escape.

This hope was quickly subdued upon hearing the laughter full of malice come from her mouth as she drew her pistol and fired off a blue plasma shot at Percy's arm.

He cried out once more in pain, as a few more Hoplites came up behind the girl.

"What shall we do with him sir?" The girl asked a man who had just come upon the scene, also wearing Chaotic armour.

"What do I care? Kill the bastard and be done with it, I have more important things to accomplish on this day." The man snorted dismissively and walked away.

With what Percy thought almost looked like a sad expression on her face by the way the corners of her mouth tilted down, the girl raised her pistol and aimed at his head.

"I am sorry soldier." She fired.

"Percy… Percy!"

Percy rose from his bed in a heap of sweat still in a daze and on instinct, swung his fist out at his 'attacker'.

The boy who had just woken him up recoiled and fell down, clutching an undoubtedly injured cheek.

"By Chaos man why do you always do that!" Nico exclaimed, rubbing his face with a careful hand.

"I..I'm sorry, I was not having the most pleasant dream and you-"

"Yeah yeah, I woke you up. Remind me not to play the caring friend ever again in any of the AM hours." Nico grumbled as he rose to his feet and headed over to his drawer.

"What was it about? You started sweating buckets, thrashing a bit, and at the end there you screamed so loud I think you might have woken up any souls unfortunate enough to be next door or above us." The boy stated as he rummaged through trying to find a fresh workout uniform.

Percy was about to answer, when he froze and began to curse a mile a minute. He flew across the room before Nico could even blink and began to grab his own uniform.

"Chill there man, what's the hurry?" Nico asked him with a raised brow.

"Nico! Do you know what day it is?" Percy exclaimed as he threw on the grey shirt and black combat pants that were his workout uniform.

Nico shrugged and gave him a blank look, slowly putting on his shirt himself, and unwrapping a muffin he had just grabbed from their new food storage unit in the front hand corner of the room by the door.

"This is our first actual battle day you idiot! We forgot to set our alarm!" Nico's brows shot higher than Percy believed humanly possible, and his mouth opened wide in a comedic fashion.

"Oh." He said simply.

Shaking his head Percy grabbed a muffin himself and an apple, put on his combat boots, and ran through the door, Nico right behind him. He had only been a Centurion for a week and already he was going to anger his ranking superior.

They made it outside to the front of the barracks and came upon the rest of the three hundred thirty second standing in four ranks in front of the building. Captain Blain stood at their head with Hoplite Jensen at his side. The former did _not_ seem happy.

"Jackson!" He boomed.

"Yes sir?" Percy yelled back and stood straight at attention.

"Do you know what bloody time it is you maggot!?" The captain exclaimed.

"Yes sir, sorry sir, our alarm didn't go off sir." He made up some form of an excuse to try and appeal to the Captain's better side. The man scowled at him.

"Next time, it'll be a demotion soldier. We do not take kindly to tardiness, from a newly promoted Centurion no less, at this academy!"

Before Percy could respond, the man turned face and began to march away.

"With me soldiers!" Blain called, and the cadets loyally followed after him.

Down the winding paths they went, until eventually they made it out to the back entrance.

"Great going back there hotshot." Percy heard a voice say to his side, and turned to see Thalia smirking at him as the cadets jogged out the now familiar entrance leading to the northern woods.

"Nico forgot to set our alarm, after I specifically told him to at least thirty times last night!" He tried to defend himself.

The short haired girl snorted and continued to jog at his side. Percy strained his neck to look for Annabeth, but was unable to find her. Puzzled, he turned to Thalia.

"Where's Wise Girl?" He asked curiously.

Thalia turned and looked around, just as he had done a moment before, then looked at him and shrugged.

"I don't know, probably with Luke. As his acting second's she and I have to spend a lot more time with him now."

"Oh, I see." Percy said simply with a bitter tinge in his voice.

"What's the matter Seaweed brain, little jealous?" Thalia stuck out her tongue.

The boy recoiled as if struck.

"What me? No! Why would I be jealous?" He sputtered out.

Thalia laughed to herself, and to his left Percy could hear Nico chuckling a bit as well. He received no response.

 _Well then, to the Void with them both._ He thought to himself as he continued to jog.

Pulling into the all too familiar clearing, the large group standing across from them on the other side was immediately what caught Percy's eye. One hundred Cadets, ready at attention and standing in perfect ranks began to march forth in sync, their hands and feet staying in tune the entire time. Upon reaching approximately 20 meters from the three hundred and thirty second, a male voice called for a full halt, and as one they stopped where they stood.

The showing was impressive to say the least, and Percy saw a few of his own cadets began to stir and mumble amongst themselves in awe and slight fear.

"Centurion Grace, Centurion Jackson, step forward!" Blain called, standing to right hand side with Jensen of Percy's battalion.

Percy paused a moment before mimicking the blonde figure across from him and taking the ordered step.

 _So, Jason's here,_ Percy thought. _I wonder why Thalia didn't ship in with him…_

Continuing trend, the two Centurions walked down their lines in the direction of Blaine, and stopped when they stood face to face in front of the Captain.

"This will be the first official battle for both the three hundred thirty second and the three hundred thirty first. It is expected that by now you both know the rules and regulations of the games, and I sincerely hope you know the behaviours and mannerisms expected of you in these events." Blain spoke distantly as if he had said this hundreds of times before. He probably had.

"Yes Captain." The two Centurions respond immediately, almost as though it was a competition.

Jensen rolled his eyes at this and Blain sighed.

"Right then, Jackson, your battalion will be taking the orange colour and far base, Grace yours will take the purple colour and academy side base. Now that you are in the actual games, your battalion will begin to be ranked based on your performance and track record. As such, it is imperative that from this point on you give your very best to these games. Today's games will be capture the flag. Now, shake hands and lets get this started." The captain said.

The two did so, and Percy noticed that the blonde boy in front of him squeezed quite a bit harder than was necessary. This was odd to Percy, as he had been nothing but kind to Thalia's twin brother before in their youth, even if it was Thalia who he was closer with. He shrugged it off as simply being his competitive spirit and with a salute to the captain, made his way back to his battalion.

They marched towards the academy side base, and eventually through its entrance. Percy walked up to the armoury and after he and his squadron leaders had all received their equipment, they began to hand out the rest to their fellow cadets. After all were taken care of, he put on his new Centurion helm. It was the same as his old helm in most aspects, Corinthian Mark 2 style, black coating, blue visor. The only difference with this one was the shining white plume of energy that shone horizontally across its top.

Percy slowly turned to face his troops, then called for his squadron leaders to follow him. As one, they entered the building at the center of the fortress, and made their way over to the holographic 3D map at it's center.

"I would like the input of my squadron leaders." Percy stated simply as he looked at the map.

"I say we rush them right off, don't give them time to prepare, and catch them unaware with their guns down." Clarisse was the first to speak up.

"That's the way to go, if you intend for us to lose." Zoe spoke next. "The enemy is clearly well trained and perhaps even more organized than it seems we are, they would easily be able to counter such a maneuver and cut us to pieces. No, if we wish for victory we need to wage guerilla attacks on them as they move through the forest."

From the other side of the table, Luke snorted.

"A coward's warfare you mean. We should meet the enemy head on, in Organized form and with plasma phalanx's protecting our advance." He said matter of factly.

Percy sighed. His squadrons leaders were all great in their own right, but they could never agree on how things should be done. It could become rather frustrating to say the least.

"Alright, well it seems we are divided." He stated.

"As always." Zoe piped up with an amused smile.

Percy put a hand to his chin and made his way over to the right side of the holographic image. Standing beside Zoe, he leaned down to get a better look at a large hill appearing on the map.

"There, what is that hill there?" He asked pointing it out.

"That's Zeus' fist." Luke responded slowly. "A large hill to our east, would be fairly easy to defend from."

"It's perfect. They will waste many a resource trying to fight their way here, only to realize once they have that our flag is not in this base." Percy said as he rose to with a straightened back.

His under officers were nodding to themselves, and it seemed they were in agreement for once. Zoe was the first of them to speak.

"You know, it is so reckless and unpredictable that it might work."

"I'm in too, might as well start our first game off with a bang." Clarisse stated.

"Ah, what the hell let's try it." Luke said nodding.

Smiling, Percy turned with them, and as they walked out, he explained his thinking.

"Right then, I want a detachment from Alpha to take the flag to the hill. Twelve cadets strong, accompanied by Luke and four more from Beta. Zoe, you and Delta will lay in wait and launch your guerrilla assaults on the enemy's main force as they advance, then once they are lead to the rest of us one hundred yards in front of our base, what's left of you will circle around and make a push for their flag." Luke and Zoe nodded as the group turned a corner and exited the building.

"Clarisse, you and I along with Gamma and the remainder of Alpha and Beta will set up our lines at the position I just mentioned, one hundred yards from the base. If things go south we can simply fall back, however we must hold the base so that Zoe can return with the flag." Percy turned and looked over each squad leader individually. "Do you all understand your roles?"

They all nodded, and turned to walk away. Percy followed suit and prepared to do the same, when he felt a hand grab his arm. He turned to look into the dark midnight black eyes of Zoe Nightshade.

"Hey, how are you holding up?" She asked, clearly feeling awkward by her body stance and gestures.

"Things could be better.." Percy replied honestly. "But by doing what you said I have been able to function, and in my position that means all the difference. Thank you." He said sincerely.

"Of course, Centurion." A small smile graced her face, and for a moment's pause Percy was completely captivated by it.

"Get out there and pick off some three three one's for me before I change my mind, then take their flag and win us the game Huntress." Percy joked. He knew not where the nickname had come from, but when he thought about it he supposed it made sense, what with her agility, stealth, and plasma bow preference.

"As you say." She turned smirking and strode off.

Percy wore a goofy smile as he approached his troops, and Leo was the first to notice it.

"Hey hey hey! The captain has a certain senorita on the brain eh!" The Latino laughed, and a few others joined him.

"Leo, you know I can strip you of your rank at any moment, right?" Percy scowled with a withering gaze.

"Yes sir, sorry sir." The curly haired boy gulped, making Percy smile.

"Good. Now then alpha listen up, cause I'm only gonna say this once.."

He proceeded to tell them exactly what he had told Zoe, Luke, and Clarisse. The detachment he sent to aid Luke with the flag defence at the fist of Zeus was led by Nico, while the rest were to remain with him as his acting guard. Once he finished his speech, his squadron hurried off to their respective positions, and around them, Percy could see the others moving to go do the same.

 _Well then, let's get this started._ He thought to himself as he walked out the gate.

Thirty minutes later Percy found himself pinned behind the walls of his base trying desperately to form some order within the remaining cadets under his command. His main host has been crushed at a small river crossing one hundred yards from the base, and he and thirty odd cadets had had to frantically retreat. Clarisse and most of Gamma still lay frozen by bullets at the river, waiting for the final buzzer in their HUD's to go off signalling the end of the game. The only good thing to come of the plan thus far had been the fact that Zoe and most of Delta had managed to slip away off to the enemy base.

"I can't see anything, it's like- agh!" Percy heard Beckendorf fall to his right and he cursed. Scrambling to his feet, he called for some covering fire and made a run for another wall of the base. Three of the five cadets who had answered his call fell from their positions, lying frozen on the ground.

"Percy, we're losing the eastern flank!" He heard Silena Beauregard call from his far right.

"Same in the south Perce, too many of the purple bastards, not enough guns!" He heard Will Solace call from his back side.

He raised his head out for a moment and gunned down a small darker skinned girl quickly, but was forced to go back down as the bigger Asian boy who had been following her advance raised his rifle and began suppressing Percy's position.

"Flag secure and on route Percy, just hold on a little longer." Zoe called over Percy's speaker.

"We need the base secured or empty for Zoe to return with the flag people, let's thin the herd or push it downwind, and let's do it fast!" Percy called out to any of his remaining members.

For a while they fought well, and things were looking up, but eventually the numbers of the enemy won out, and Percy found himself lying with the remainder of his men on the ground with wounds paralyzing him. Leo lay to his side, and the boy seemed to never have an off button, because even as the other team entered their base, he still kept talking away about irrelevant things to Percy. A female figure approached the two and stepped on Leo's hand, causing him to yelp.

"Hey! Take it easy there senorita, it's just a game, no need to break any bones." He said sarcastically.

"Where is the flag!" She growled fiercely.

"You know, you remind me of-" Percy cut him off.

"Zeus' fist, good luck trying to get it."

The girl turned to him, noticed his Centurion helm and armour, and nodded in grudging respect.

"Well fought Centurion." She said before another voice called over to her.

"Reyna, got anything?"

The girl turned, and walked over to the voice.

"Zeus' Fist, hurry up, we can't have long! Leave a light garrison and let's get moving!" She responded in the distance, her voice growing fainter by the word.

Percy heard the three hundred thirty first hustle out of the base and relaxed. Regardless of what happened next, the most he could do was sit back and listen, so he thought he might as well get comfortable.

After a while, he heard Luke's voice of the speaker calling for his cadets to hold fast, and Percy prayed Zoe would return soon. One by one he heard Nico's cadets and occasionally Luke's cry out before obviously falling to their in game death, until it was evidently only Luk, Nico, and a girl that must have been Annabeth left.

By some odd coincidence, it was at exactly that time that he heard the nearest enemy sentry fall, and a smile played across his face. He listened with satisfaction as one by one loud thuds of falling bodies were heard around the base, until silence took hold.

Percy heard footsteps walking in his direction, and he sighed.

"Looking a little down there Jackson." Zoe said innocently.

"Shut up." He replied simply.

"You know, I don't think I recall you saying in your plan you intended to lose the base.." She continued as if she hadn't heard him.

"When I get out of this Nightshade, I'm going to destroy you in the arena again!" He yelled jokingly.

"Oh, yes, because that's certainly what happened last time is it?" She scoffed.

"Just go win the damn game for us."

"Oh, I think I like the sound of that, could you say it one more time, just so I can get it on record?" She asked, clearly amused.

"Zoe, you know I can always pull rank on you."

"Ah, always have to ruin the fun. Phoebe! Bring the flag!" He heard her walk towards the main building.

"Hey boss.." Percy heard Leo say from his side.

"Yes Leo?"

"She's pretty hot. I get your smile earlier now. Props amigo." The Latino chuckled.

 **Ight my G's, that's it. You can all go home now… If you're not there already. Fighting scenes are short, I know, don't hate please. I just didn't want to basically reskin chapter 4 too much you know? Rest assured I can and will go into more depth for future scenes, but for now, this is what we got. As always I hope you've all enjoyed. Much love and Gods guide you, for the night is dark and full of terrors,**

 **Chrome**


	7. Chapter 7

**HELLO PEOPLE!**

 **I am back with the new chapter, and I am no longer suffering from sickness, just a chronic case of homework overloads! Due to the prolonged wait, I decided to make this chapter a bit longer for you guys, (Definitely wasn't because I wanted to get to the 30k word mark early, not at all, hehe…). I thank you all for your patience in this matter!**

 **Some things to discuss,**

 **First off, the poll has had a grand total of eight votes so far. I'm assuming a lot of you are the type of people that don't turn out to elections, lol! If you want to go check that out, go ahead, but its pretty one sided as it stands at this point in time.**

 **Next thing I want to talk about is my new story. Damn, I gotta say I was surprised by the amount of support it got! It's already at the same amount of followers and favourites as this, and the little 2k word drabble I wrote has gotten 11 actual reviews! To any of you supporting both, thank you, and to any that don't know of the Remnant yet, please go check it out! Now, onto reviews!**

 **Primus Noctis- Love the name, was actually going to have a char later down the line in here named Noctis! Thank you for your kind words friend :), nice to see you on both Legacy and Remnant reviews!**

 **LittleManY2K - Indeed! A victory is a victory! I know, I realized that mistake once I uploaded it, and kinda facepalmed, but was to lazy to find out how to go back and fix it, aha! Thank you friend!**

 **TheRealCupcake - That is.. Wow. I can honestly say I'm in shock from that review, and you have no idea how much it means to me to hear somebody say that. I doubt I'll ever be as good as those two, but you can bet your left nut that I'll give it my all! Thank you immensely.**

 **EnigmaPenguin - Thank you very much my friend! It's my pleasure to read such wonderful reviews ;), and I'm very glad to hear you like my work!**

 **Omega Alpha Hydra - Go check it out friend, it would be nice to have one of my most loyal reviewers over on that story too :)! I won't say for certain yet, but I believe that that will be what I end up going with.**

 **SonOfEnergy - Nice to see you again! I thank you very much for both the kind words and the follow and favourite :)!**

 **RockRoy - They did in fact win, even though Percy kinda got kicked around himself a little :P, and she just may do that, aha!**

 **Fin the Demi God - Thank you very much kind sir :).**

 **Alright, reviews over now, let's get rightttt, into the chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or aspects of the PJO franchise. I do however own any original characters that might pop up as well as the fictional alternate universe this is based in.**

Chapter 7

Arrogance of the Capital

It didn't take more than a few games for people to realize that the three hundred and thirty second were a force to be reckoned with. After their tactical, if a bit Pyrrhic, victory against the three hundred thirty first, they went on to win a heavy multitude of games and attain an undefeated record. Week after week a new battalion would be pitted against them, and each one would fall like the last before it. Alarii, Elcoids, Felucians, Humans, it mattered not. Percy and his battalion were said to be able to match any opponent.

This rumour had spread itself throughout the academy however, and as all boastful rumours generally tend to do, it had attracted some notoriety for the young battalion members. While most looked on at them in jealousy or fear of their skills, there were also those that disliked them simply because they were humans with skill. Principally Felucians, but there were also a select few Voidborn who seemed to have it out for Percy and his cadets as well.

This was made obvious for the first time to Percy when he, Zoe, Leo, Nico, Thalia, and Annabeth had been strolling across grounds in the later hours of a day in their third year and ran into a pack of Voidborn from the Second Pure Battalion.

Most at the academy walked lightly around the Voidborn, and for good reason. The self styled "Pure Born" were the raw image of military might. White men skin covered their bodies and hair that always consisted of a colour almost akin to that of space itself grew from their heads. They tended to be humanoid in figure in regards to all other respects, except that all had markings in some form of royal purple material painted onto their faces once they passed the age of twelve. As citizens whose point of origin was the Capital, they had been raised under the light of Chaos himself, and they had thrived in it.

Voidborn took up the majority of Elite positions in the Chaotic armada. While the name of Percy's father might have held a large amount of weight among humans as well as some of the lesser species of the universe, it meant little to most of the higher class species, such as the Voidborn. The Voidborn thought themselves for the most part superior, as they were Chaos' first and 'favourite' people. While Percy couldn't believe that last sentiment, he could admit that the Voidborn held almost unparalleled skills in combat and strategy.

As Percy and his comrades walked by the doors to the arena, a group of Voidborn who had been pretending to go about menial tasks followed them. At first Percy had thought maybe they were going in the same direction as them, but as they continued to follow, he grew more and more on edge. He was not the only one to notice, and it seemed all his friends were slightly nervous.

Finally, after a good five minutes or so of being tailed, wishing to end the tension, Percy held up his hand to stop his group and turned around to face the Pale cadets. As he moved to walk over to them, A hand leapt out and grabbed his shoulder, and he found himself looking into the stormy eyes of Thalia.

"Hey, Perce, it's not worth it to start a fight with them. Just, see what they need and comply, okay?" Her tone held a bitter tinge to it, for while Thalia knew how to think tactically, that didn't mean she liked rolling over for a potential enemy like a wounded dog who'd been backed into a corner.

"Don't make us have to save your sorry ass either Centurion." Zoe smirked from Thalia's right side.

"Noted, both of you." Percy responded. "I don't intend to start anything, merely find out what the problem it."

He left the confines of his friends and walked out to meet the Voidborn. Once Percy had made it to the halfway mark between the groups, a single individual from those opposite him disengaged from his comrades and walked to meet the centurion of the three hundred thirty second while the others stayed back a ways. He was taller than the rest, and towered above even Percy's current height of 6"2, with had a bulky build clearly showing his potential strength. Percy himself was no pushover, and had built up enough muscles of his own by this point in his life, but the cadet standing in front of him was a Voidborn, so he'd have to tread carefully.

"Need something my fellow Centurion?" He asked, noticing the badge of rank on the pale humanoid's sleeve.

"Consider us not equal human rat, we have come to address a situation." The other Centurion responded.

There was no hint of malice in his voice, on the contrary it actually sounded quite neutral. His eyes however were formed into a scowl, and it was there Percy saw the ill intent. He crossed his arms and nodded his head, signalling the Voidborn to continue talking.

"As you know, there are those spreading the lies around that you might have the strongest of battalions at the academy in the present. Stronger maybe even, than the voidborn ourselves. This cannot be allowed, and either you need to be put in your place, or you need to make the rumours stop. Seeing as you'd have to track down half the academy for the later option to cease, I presume we'll have to take the former route." The Centurion spoke quickly and with a natural confidence.

"W-What? How can you put this on us! It's not like we started any of that, and I will not put any of the cadets under my command in a harmful position to satisfy your petty greed. If we play you, many of my people will get hurt, and that is something I will not allow." Percy spat out angrily.

"You misunderstand me human. I made no request, I simply asked which course of action you were going to take. There was no option in backing out or rejecting. You must forgive me for not making myself more clear." The pale cadet gave a sly smirk.

Percy was about to retort with another outburst, but he stopped himself. Anger was what this capital citizen wanted, and he would not give the thing any more satisfaction than it had already received. He internally shook himself out of it, then turned back to the Voidborn.

"What if I had another solution." He spoke carefully.

"And what would said solution be or entail?" The pale cadet asked, clearly somewhat intrigued.

Percy was incredibly tempted to tell the guy he could go fuck himself, but he realized that regardless of how funny it would be, it'd come back to bite him in the ass. A dry chuckle escaped his lips at the thought, and he responded.

"Why drag our battalions into this, when it could be settled personally."

"What are you suggesting human..?" He asked Percy, not quite sure he could believe what he was hearing.

"You fight me, single combat, nobody else needs to get hurt." Percy responded, unfazed by the laughter that erupted from the Voidborn's mouth the moment he finished his sentence.

It seemed his companions had heard Percy's words too, for behind him they too burst out laughing. The son of Poseidon was certain that behind him his friends would be worried sick, and he was sure to get a hard lecture from both Zoe and Thalia once he walked back, but he knew that his choice was the right one. For the betterment of his group, he had to sacrifice. It simply came with a ruling position.

Once the Voidborn had regained control of himself, he turned back to face Percy.

"I'm sure you don't need me to tell you this, but you do realize you are just a human, correct? You wish to challenge one of Chaos' chosen?"

"I wish to challenge nobody, but you have forced me to take some form of action, and this is the one that spares my battalion your unreasonable wroth." Percy shrugged, to which the Voidborn scowled.

"You will regret this choice Percy Jackson, mark my words, I will make you bleed." He turned back and began to walk towards his fellow Pale cadets. "We shall meet at the arena as the second moon breaks through the night sky. Have no fear for lack of spectators, for I shall ensure my victory is witnessed."

Percy nodded in response and mimicked the Voidborn's actions, making his way back to his own cadets.

The sound of a resounding smack echoed loudly in the air the minute Percy was within range of Thalia's arm, just as a shout came from Zoe's mouth.

"Have you lost your mind?" The daughter of Atlas exclaimed.

"I will not have those under my command injured to satisfy the pride of an arrogant and egotistical Voidborn like him. I will fight him alone, and bear his self righteous blows by myself." Percy responded. "Plus you know, there is another outcome to this that nobody seems to be considering."

"And what outcome is that boss?" Leo asked from behind the two angry female cadets.

"That I'll win." Without another word, Percy made his way through the small group of his friends, and back towards the Gamma V barracks, but just before he was out of earshot, he heard Thalia mutter something to the others in a miserable tone.

"Nobody beats the Voidborn, not even Percy."

 _We'll see about that._ Percy thought to himself. _We shall see._

~LB~

"Hey boss, it's time to go." Percy heard Leo call from outside of his door.

He gave a slight nod of his head and rose from the spot on his bed he had been laying in for the past thirty minutes. Across the room Nico looked up from his position slumped against the wall.

"Perce, you don't have to do this man, we can try our luck against them as a unit! You always say we function better as a whole, why separate yourself from your metaphorical shield wall?" The son of Hades questioned sadly.

Percy threw on his uniform jacket, his Centurion rank proudly displayed on its sleeve, before he answered.

"Its what's best for the group Nico. You know that if we were to face them, many of us would be hurt. Hell, I'm not even sure we'd all walk out alive. You know the ferocity of the Voidborn, and they get away with a lot more at this academy than most should ever be able to. If I were to not do this, and say we met the Voidborn in combat for 'training', what kind of leader would I be if any cadet under my command died? If there had been a way for me to prevent that death, but I had walked away because I was too big a coward?"

"You don't know that Percy. It's true that they're Voidborn, but you've heard the rumours! People are saying we're some of the best this academy has seen in a long time, and there's a reason the pale bastards feel threatened. What's to say we'd lose?" Nico fired back, slowly growing anger becoming visible in his voice.

"Nobody Nico, but I will not chance it."

"To the void with you then! Why do you have to be our guardian angel, we can fight for ourselves, and you're not the only one they threatened with their actions!" Nico had risen by this point, and was closer to Percy than he had previously been.

"I am your commanding officer soldier, and this is my will. Unless you are saying you want to disobey my orders, you will stop talking of this at once." Percy got in the longer haired boy's face, and for a moment an intense conflict of the eyes filled the room with tension.

"Hey boss, not trying to rush ya or anything, but I'm pretty sure the guys with the painted faces aren't going to wait forever." Leo called again from the hallway.

Percy shook himself from his anger. It would not do to have his judgement clouded by such thoughts in the situation he was about to throw himself into. He shoved past Nico towards the door.

"Come watch with the rest if you wish, or stay here and sulk. I care not, but as you are not only a friend but also one of my under officers, I would have you be there." Without another word, Percy walked out.

"There we go, let's get a move on." Leo smiled when Percy came out. 'Last I checked the arena was crawling with people, let's just hope the brass don't find out about this thing or it'll be all our asses on the line."

Percy nodded and together, he and Leo made their way out of the Gamma V barracks. Outside they met up with a few members of the battalion who would act as Percy's escort. Zoe, Annabeth, Luke, Thalia, Clarisse, and a few members of Alpha squad clapped their fists to their chests in salute once they saw him.

"You better win this Jackson. Damn Voidborn been at the top for too long now. It's long past time somebody showed them their place, kicked them into line a little." Luke spoke.

"For once, I actually must agree with him." Zoe smirked.

Thalia said nothing, and looked away. She had a realistic viewpoint, and knew the others were just being optimistic. Clarisse and Annabeth however both smiled at him. Clarisse with something that looked almost like pride, while Annabeth's seemed more like worry.

"You've got this Seaweed brain." The later spoke.

Percy gave them all an encouraging smile, and walked through to take his place at the head of their small column.

"Nico not coming?" Thalia asked, looking still at the barrack entrance.

"We'll see, if he is he will catch up." Percy answered somewhat cryptically.

Thalia scowled, but made no comment, and the escort proceeded on to the arena.

The first thing they noticed was the crushing throng of people standing just inside the entrance as they came up on the large building. Leo stepped forward in front of the escort.

"Don't worry guys, I got this." The Latino gave a cheeky smile, before cupping his hands to his mouth and beginning to shout. "Make way for the future champion of this arena! Make way! Make way!"

Percy put a palm to his face. If the Voidborn weren't agitated already, they definitely would be now. Regardless however, the crowd began to part, and with the same cheeky grin still present on his face, Leo turned and bowed to Percy.

"After you lord Perseus."

"Hey Leo, remember those cupcakes?"

The boy's smile was wiped away fairly quickly.

"Not fair."

"Doesn't need to be fair, I'm your leader." He responded as he walked into the fray.

"This is why we all should've elected Valdez. I wouldn't abuse my power, and I would've built a wall or something." Percy heard Leo mutter playfully under his breath behind him, and he shook his head.

The floors of the arena were completely packed, of that at least Leo had been correct. Initially Percy had had a clear path, but the further in he got to the crowds, the more packed it became again, and eventually he found himself having to force his way through the throng of cadets. He received an elbow here and there from Felucians and the odd Voidborn, but other than that he remained unmolested.

After what seemed like an hour, though in reality had only been a few minutes, Percy was at the front of the crowd. He broke free from the others and made his way to the fighting pit in the center of the building that had been seemingly erected by other cadets from the training mats. Across the homemade platform stood his opponent.

"I must admit, I am surprised you appeared." The Voidborn mocked.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world buddy." Percy retorted.

The sarcastic response seemed to grate on the pale cadet's nerves, and Percy smiled to himself.

 _Good. Maybe his anger will make this a bit easier._ Percy thought to himself, confident in his abilities to piss off the bigger Voidborn as he turned to look at the crowd.

Another Voidborn of average height separated himself from them and called for silence. Slowly but surely, the chatter in the room died down, and all eyes turned to him.

"My fellow cadets of the Academy, welcome to this night's grand event!" He exclaimed, his hands outstretched in an exaggerated fashion.

"Today, we will witness the great Centurion Fallos Horrick do battle with the mortal known as Perseus Jackson. Here, you will all see first hand the falsity in the rumours you have been so careless as to spread that a simple human battalion might compare to the pride of Chaos himself. Fallos Horrick and Perseus Jackson will do battle in single combat. The match will end when one of the combatants yields. No sooner, and no later."

Many cheered at this. It was not often that the cadets were able to witness a spectacle in such a fashion, as underground fights were understandably against academy rules, which were heavily enforced. Percy knew that were this night's revelries, if they could be called something so sweet, were to be uncovered, they'd all be in trouble to say the least. He had to defend his soldiers however, so he would not back down. He cracked his neck and turned to face his opponent.

Two cadets, one Alarii and one human from the three hundred thirty first, came out dragging a weapons rack. Percy, being the chivalrous gentleman he thought himself to be, decided he would let the Voidborn pick first in kindness. Not that it mattered, as the pale brute would've shoved him aside regardless had he advanced on the rack before him, but Percy believed it was the thought that counted.

The pale Centurion examined the weapons closely, and with a keen eye. He picked up one or two training blades and tested each one's balance, seemingly deciding he liked neither as he tossed them both aside. He then walked over to the heavy weapons section of the rack and gripped a huge training warhammer. The yellow non-lethal plasma sparked to life on the weapon's edges as he pressed the button to power it up, and after two or three experimental swings, he set it at his side, seemingly satisfied.

 _Whatever he may act like, he seems to have the air of an impressive warrior about him, but I might be able to use the extra strength and lack of speed that weapon will give him to my advantage._ Percy thought to himself as he took his turn in approaching the weapons rack.

He looked at the spot from which the other centurion had taken his tool of warfare, but immediately dismissed heavy weapons. The Voidborn would be much stronger than him, and faster to boot, he had to use something that would grant him speed, and the ability to maximize on the Voidborn's weaknesses. With this in mind, he turned to the smaller one handed leaf shaped training blades.

He grabbed the one on the top of the row, and experimentally swung it a few times.

 _It's got a good balance to it, I suppose I could've been worse off._ He mentally shrugged as he grabbed the blade's scabbard and attached it to his belt.

Next, he reached across the rack and grabbed a small wrist attachment that served as an unopened plasma shield. He put the thing on, and pressed a button, watching with a satisfied smile as it sprung to life in a beautiful circular display of yellow training plasma. Turning, Percy nodded to the cadet who seemed to be acting as the announcer, who then turned and called for the armour of the warriors to be brought forth.

Another Voidborn stepped from the ranks of the Second Pure Battalion carrying a magnificent suit of white shining armour. Greaves, chestpiece, gauntlets, and even helm seemed to catch any light in the room and reflect it in brilliant rays.

 _Shame the beauty of the armour does not match the attitude of its wearer._ Percy thought to himself, then turned as Zoe walked out with his own armour.

His armour was simpler than the other Centurion's, but he did not mind. It was all black, and the same suit he wore for all their games in the northern woods. The brilliant white plasma plume shone to life as he took the helm from Zoe's hands with a nod of thanks, but upon closer inspection, Percy noticed something new on the front of his Corinthian mark 2.

"What is this? And who did it?" He asked Zoe, staring down at the new design painted in a sea green colour onto his helm. It travelled sideways from the bottom left to the top right, with the three points of what looked to be a trident to ending in the latter corner.

"The symbol of your father's flagship and by rights noble house. Thalia thought you might like it. The Voidborn all have the symbol of their noble house painted on their helms like badges of honour, why shouldn't you?" She gave a small smile, handing him the rest of his armour.

"I.. Thank you, Zoe. Thalia too, it means a lot." He said in gratitude as he threw on the hard metal of the chestplate.

"You can thank me by winning this match, unless you're too poor a swordsman." The girl smirked at him, and with a small laugh she turned and walked back off to stand with the rest of the three hundred thirty second in attendance.

Shaking his head, Percy turned, throwing his helmet on in the process, and faced his opponent. The tall brute had the symbol of a winged sword painted across his helm in purple travelling from bottom to top.

 _I've seen that symbol before…_ Percy thought to himself, but brushed it aside and decided to think about it later.

"Fallos of the noble House Horrick, are you ready?" The Voidborn announcer called.

"Of course."

"Human, are you ready?" He called next.

"Sure, I don't see why not." A few laughs came from the crowd at that, and to Percy's surprise they were not all from humans.

'Then in the name of Chaos, I pronounce the battle to begin!" The pale cadet backed off the homemade fighter's stage, and Percy and Fallos began to circle each other. Each fighter eyed up their opponent for a moment, before Fallos charged forth with a brutal roar.

Percy had just enough time to raise his shield and stop the rather large warhammer from crushing his skull. The blow shook his entire body, and his shield arm began to throb.

 _Damn this guy hits hard!_ He cursed internally as he stumbled back from Fallos.

The pale brute followed him and continued his rapid assault, repeatedly bashing at Percy's shield. Percy was unable to find room to counter attack, and could do nothing but slowly back up whilst trying desperately to block all of Fallos' painful blows. After a while of this going on, Percy saw his chance when Fallos left his legs a little too exposed following one strike, and seized the opportunity. He pushed up with his shield, making the warhammer that had been pummeling it mere seconds ago fly upward to an unusable angle. He then swung his blade at the legs of the brute as fast as he could with a precision strike.

Somehow, with what seemed like unnatural speed and strength, Fallos managed to shove down Percy's shield and bring his Warhammer into the path of his blade just in time to block it. He then thrust his elbow into the front of Percy's helmet, and watched with a sneer as he fumbled back once more. This time however, Percy was quicker to recover, and as Fallos brought down his mighty warhammer to strike, he lept to the right. As the great weapon crashed into the ground with a mighty sound, Percy pivoted on his left foot and delivered a solid kick to the back of the Voidborn Centurion's leg.

The tall brute buckled a moment, and for a mere seconds pause Percy thought he might fall. He did not however, and used the momentum of the blow to spin with the warhammer and bring it crashing into Percy's side, sending him flying across the room one way, and his helmet, which had been knocked off by the impact of the blow, another. Percy spun around to face the brute while he lay on the ground, and with wide eyes was just able to roll to the left as the growingly familiar warhammer was brought down on the spot he was just laying in.

An uneasy murmur went over the crowd, and a few people started calling out to Fallos.

"Come on, let the guy get his helmet back!"

"There was no honour in that attack!"

"You're bashing him around enough, at least let him get up first!"

Growling, Fallos backed away and nodded forcibly for Percy to go collect his helmet again. Percy nodded his thanks, for while it may have been forced by the spectators, it was still a voluntary act of an honourable warrior. Once his helm was back on, he turned to Fallos and nodded, then the fight was under way again.

Fallos swung his warhammer in a wide ark, aiming to bring it down on Percy's recently restored helmet, but Percy acted on instinct and charged the brute. Even Fallos, a Voidborn of the capital, could not stop his already winging hammer in time to counter Percy's frontal step attack, and as Percy brought the but end of his blade to Fallos' helm in a pile driver motion, the crowd held its breath.

With the momentum of the warhammer still carrying his arms forward, the Voidborn's legs were swept out from under him, also exploding forward, and the combined forces of Percy's fist and sword hilt drove his head back. His body convulsed at an unnatural angle, and he fell on his back about a foot away from Percy's feet.

Percy approached the Voidborn carefully, making sure to keep his guard up. When Fallos' arm shot out to grab his leg, he was ready, and kicked the thing aside, stepping back and preparing for the fight to continue.

"Well struck human, but I am not finished yet." The pale brute grunted as he picked his warhammer back up.

"Not yet, but you're close right?" Percy joked.

He got no response but another roar as the big Voidborn charged him, his mighty hammer raised menacingly above his head. Percy raised his shield to block the blow,

and felt the familiar throbbing come from his shield arm.

 _Maybe he's broken it?_ He thought to himself, but was forced from such ideas when he had to raise his sword to parry another blow from the warhammer.

Back and forth the fight went. For hours it seemed to carry on, and the spectators were amazed by the phenomenal battle prowess shown by both combatants, yet primarily the human. Never before had a mortal of the Olympian sector give such a challenge to one of the Pure Born, a Centurion of them no less. It was truly a magnificent fairy tale setting to watch unfold for them.

Like all fairy tales however, it had to come to an end. Percy made one wrong move with his sword, and Fallos capitalized. He swung his warhammer back end and knocked the blade from Percy's hands, and the raven black haired Centurion cursed as he raised his shield as his last line of defence. He was bruised on every open part of his body, from his exposed arms to his bare shins. His shield arm was on fire, and his shoulder felt dislocated, however he would not simply give up. He rammed his shield into Fallos with all the force he could muster, and bashed his helmet with a mighty thrust. The Voidborn crumpled to the ground with a thundering crack, and once more the arena went completely quiet.

Percy internally cheered. He had done it, he had done what no human had ever done before and beaten a Voidborn in single combat. Cannons of victory sounded in his head, and he could hear a few of his battalion members begin to cheer to his far side. He made to approach the brute and finally finish the fight, but something stopped him.

 _This was never about who won or lost, it was to send a message._ He thought slowly.

If he won, that message would not be seen to have gotten across, and the Voidborn would continue to harass his people until somebody got hurt. He knew he had won the fight here, and he believed Fallos did too, but that didn't mean the others had to. He knew what he had to do, and for the good of his soldiers, he would do it.

He sighed to himself as he continued his approach of the fallen, clearly feigning at this point Voidborn, purposely leaving an opening in his defence. As he got close to the pale Centurion, the boy tried to fly to his feet. It was slow and sloppy, and if Percy were trying, he'd have been able to bash him over the head and been done with it by now.

The Voidborn it seemed recognized this, and throw the blue T-shaped visor of his training helm, Percy knew he was looking at him with confusion. As his body language changed, it seemed clear to Percy that his opponent recognized what was going on, but before he could pick up more, the brute drove his gauntleted fist hard into his helmet.

Percy found himself on the ground, the world ringing around him. He could not move, and darkness was slowly beginning to cloud his vision. The last thing he heard before he blacked out completely came from Fallos, in a soft voice so that only Percy could hear.

"My thanks human, this shall not be forgotten."

 **Alright, so, that's it for this chapter! Let me know what you all thought of it in the reviews please! I tried to make this fight scene as epic as possible without taking up the WHOLE chapter with it, but idk how I did with that, aha :P. Thank you all for being patient and waiting once again. I wish I could promise that it won't happen in the future, but I can't, I'm sorry.**

 **To those of you that didn't read it in the beginning, be sure to check out my other story that I'm starting called The Remnant! To any lovers of Ancient Greece and/or Spartan Percy stories, you'll love it I swear! Legacy is my focus, however I might start to alternate update weeks between this and Remnant until I've gotten up to about 30k words written for Remnant too, then I'll start pacing out it's chapters more and focus on finishing this.**

 **As always, much love my beloved readers and Gods guide you, for the night is dark and full of terrors,**

 **Chrome.**


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